Anna sat the two of them down in chairs facing opposite one another. "Well, what have you to say? I'm curious, you never visit."
"I'm working on a project. I'll need some help from you, if you're willing. All my old friends call me insane, you're really the only one I have left for this." he said, smiling patiently. "I know you'll love it. I want to find a way to… not exactly split the human soul, as I've theorized before… more make a copy. A pattern."
Anna choked on her spit. "No, no, I can't."
She sighed in her sleep, shifting again as her subconscious began to drag her to wakefulness, pulling her from the warm dark clutches of sleep and bringing her ever closer to the surface.
“And why not? Are you so sure that I’m wrong just off the bat? Come on, man, you’re one of my closest friends! I depend on you for your advice.” he said, leaning forward. “Anna, I look at you and I see someone just as real of a man as I am, and-“
“You see, this is why I don’t come visit more often.”
“And why is that?”
“Take a closer look at what you’re saying. I’m no man, but I’m just as capable if not more as one.” she shrugged. “That’s something you’ve never gotten in all your years.”
Anna stood up. “Look, I love how enthusiastic you are for your theories, but I think… I just can’t do this with you. It’s too strange for me. You’re a strange case, doctor Jekyll.”
Elanor finally really began to wake up, eyes flickering open just a little bit. For a moment, she was quite disoriented and struggled to take in her surroundings, but soon everything fell into place as she remembered where she was and what had happened.
Anna walked over to her awoken patient, quickly checking her temperature and then adjusting the pillows on the bed so Elanor could sit up. “Are you alright?” she asked, brushing hair out of her eyes.
Elanor blinked up at her, nodding slightly. "Mhm. I'm fine." She replied in a soft, drowsy voice. "I should like to talk a bath, though, if that will be possible?" She had no idea if it was safe for the wound to he in water or not.
Anna blinked. "Er, I don't think submerging the wound as of now would be so good." she turned to doctor Jekyll, and urged him to leave, which he did without a word. "However, I could wash your hair and wipe down any dirty areas with a warm cloth, unless you wanted to do that second part." she said.
"Er…I think I would prefer to do the second part alone." Elanor responded. Sure, she had had handmaidens, but that was different. They had never bathed her. She did not want a perfect stranger touching and seeing her body, as unsexy a situation as it was. Even if it was highly unlikely Anna thought of women that way, Elanor still did not want that.
"I'm mostly worried you'll have trouble reaching a cut or bruise that could become infected, or even just not getting fully clean, or breaking a stitch, but you seem healthy enough to take care of yourself and anyways I have some old clothes from a friend of mine that would fit you nicely." Anna rambled, she had a predisposition for that she assumed as she even rambled in her head. Like now. Oh, dear. Well, better to treat her patient now than later. "Alright, I'll draw some water outside, and let you rest a moment longer. Don't leave without me!" she said. Anna had never desired a patient before, even one who was oddly pretty in a soul way like Elanor, but she did think highly of Elanor for some reason. She just… hadn't met a patient so mysterious before, she supposed.
Elanor nodded a little at the outpouring of words from Anna's mouth, sitting up a little bit and running her hands over her hair, grimacing faintly when she felt how greasy it had become. "Alright. Thank you, Doctor Saville." she said, watching as Anna left the room.
Anna went to draw some water, then heated it up to a comfortable level. She poured some into one basin, grabbing soap and scrubbing. She wasn't cruel, but she wasn't gentle, Elanor was filthy and unless she wanted a buzzcut the hair would need some serious TLC. When she finished, she dried the woman's hair off with a cloth and handed her another clean rag and the soap with a second basin of water to wash herself off.
Elanor held as still as she could while Anna scrubbed and brushed through her hair, only wincing every now and again. "Thank you." she said again, a faint smile tugging at her mouth for just a moment.
"Wash yourself off. I won't look." Anna said in a matter-of-fact tone. "If you need my help, just let me know. Otherwise, I'll be in my office." she said, turning away.
"Alright. Thank you." she shifted. Once Anna was gone, she carefully stripped off most of her clothing, setting it aside and then getting to work on washing herself off.
Anna, when she saw that Elanor had finished washing and had covered herself in sheets once more, brought some clothes out and set them next to the woman on the bed. "Get dressed. I don't want an esteemed guest of mine being stuck in filthy rags." this wasn't a snide statement, rather, a statement meant to comfort in a strange way.
Elanor's brows drew together faintly at the comment, then nodded slightly. "Alright." once Anna was gone again, she got dressed again, this time in the fresh clothes. It felt good not to have on the old, grimy, dirty ones.
Anna returned shortly afterwards. If her patient was poisoned, she wanted to keep her under close observation. "Are you alright? How is your physical state right now, if you were to place it on a scale of unbearable pain to barely anything?"
"It's…I'm just sore, I'm not really in a lot of pain." She replied, glad to be washed and in clean clothes now. "I am feeling fine." Her hair hung around her shoulders in loose, damp waves, still wet from the washing Anna had given it earlier.
Anna smiled. “That must mean most of the poison is out of your system. That’s good.” she said. “If you’re feeling well enough, I might leave you on your own in here to go ask some friends if they could give you a place to stay.”
"Oh– you do not have to do that, I can find a place on mine own." Elanor responded quickly. "I am already in your debt, there is no need to do any more." frankly, she had no idea where she would stay, but she did not want Anna to feel like she had to take care of her.
"Elanor, I'm here to take care of you. I'm a doctor. It isn't like I charge what patients can't pay, and I don't carry debts." she said. "If you're struggling, I want to help you. If you need a place to stay, I'll find one, or you can stay with me for now. You seem like the stubborn type. I think you need to learn to be more accommodating when people try to help."
Elanor blinked at her a few times, taking in Anna's words. "Oh. I…it is only that I do not want to burden you any more than I already have, and I can survive on my own." help was nice but she couldn't be in debt, and she didn't want to get close to this woman only to end up pulling away.
"Honey, no. You can't survive in London on your own, you look to be one of those rich folks down to your bones and I won't stand for you dying in the streets on my watch. At least make sure you can stand before I set you up with an apprenticeship." Anna said. She patted Elanor on the shoulder and stood back a little.
Elanor opened her mouth to defend herself, then deflated a little bit. "Ah. Well. I am not sure that you are…wrong about that." she replied, frowning for a moment at the realization.
Anna nodded. "Doctors are always right," she said, in a way that would not be foreshadowing in a normal fluffy comfort story, but was definitely foreshadowing for darker themes to come here.
