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.
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[He's addressing John, the cabbie, whoever. His eyes are on the window, though, looking at the world rolling by.]
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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.
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[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.]
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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.
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[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?
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Need him to slow down, dear?
[John asks, tone incredibly dry, as he keeps a straight face.]
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[He's not letting up on that seat, though.]
No - he can speed up, if he likes.
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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?
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[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.
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[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?]
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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.
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[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.]
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[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.