Victor heard a commotion from the doorway and turned his head to it. Mina was leading someone in, someone tall and muscular.
The corpse.
Victor stood up swiftly, the motion knocking his chair over. His heart pounded in his chest as he forced himself to look the being in the eyes, and suddenly he was back in that shed on Enna, looking down at the scarred, decomposed face of Professor Krempe's brother. He suddenly felt dizzy, his fingers numb, and heard someone–probably himself, but it felt too distant to tell–softly say "I'm sorry, I think I may-" before his eyes rolled back in his head and he passed out.
“Oh!” Eden’s tears immediately stopped at the stranger’s fainting. “I’ll move him to the couch,” they said, brushing Hurricane’s belongings off and then moving back to the kitchen to lay the other Victor out on the couch with gentle strength, placing a blanket over him. “I wonder what that was all about. Does he have a weak immune system?”
(Wouldn't be Frankenstein without someone losing consciousness, F in chat ig)
(F)
Sherlock blinked faintly. "Oh, Eden this is…Victor." they said slowly, reflecting on the fact that there were now two Victors for Eden to deal with.
She nodded and went to sit with Jonathan, who gave Eden a sympathetic glance. Then she shot back up again as the new Victor collapsed onto the floor. She relaxed as Eden volunteered to handle it, saying, “What… happened?”
Victor came to on the couch, his fingers still cold and numb.
"D-dreadfully sorry about that-" he began, and then noticed the being standing next to him. He jerked away from them swiftly, nearly falling from the couch.
"Did you help me?" he asked, cocking his head slightly.
“Yes, I… is there something on my face? Victor did give me a nasty slap, but I doubt it would have left a mark. He has weak hands. My Victor, I mean, not you.” Eden offered.
Sherlock stepped back to give Victor some space, looking around the group for a moment and running their fingers through their hair. Was this their whole group? They hoped no one else was going to arrive; they had plenty already.
Mina cocked her head at Victor. “I don’t mean to be blunt, but are you afraid of Eden?”
She could understand being anxious due to the being’s appearance, but blacking out? Seemed a little overreactive.
(F in the chat for Eden being diagnosed with The Freaky)
(It is an Oh Dear moment.)
When Eden showed back up, Lo had to take a moment to very seriously debate whether going after Victor would be beneficial or not. She desperately wanted to break his nose. Old man or not, people like him didn't deserve people like Eden. But they also didn't deserve the effort Lo would have to put into going after him, so instead, she followed the procession, waving at Eden.
"This Victor, no offense dear, is much sweeter than yours. I'm already calling him my friend. That is-" She turned to Victor, smiling pleasantly. Still, something lurked under the surface, like she wouldn't hesitate to take that claim back if she needed to. "-if you're not going to be weird about my other friend." Careful not to refer to Eden by name, seeing as how uncomfortable that had made them, she gestured to them instead. She had to allow herself a moment of amusement, seeing as both her and Mina had apparently decided that Eden deserved a sort of protection squad. Not from physical threats, of course. Just from people being people.
(Eden protection squad, lets gooo!)
"Afraid?" Victor echoed. "No, I-I'm not afraid, just…"
He paused, choosing his words carefully as to not reveal too much.
"They just reminded me of something I'd prefer to forget, is all." He offered a smile that he hoped didn't seem forced. "And thank you for helping me…Eden, was it? Terribly sorry for fainting on you all there, that sort of thing hasn't happened to me in a while."
He rubbed the knuckles of one hand across the back of the other, trying to regain more feeling in them. Victor's heart rate was still above average, and he forced himself to take a deep breath. He would be fine. He would be fine. While they still made him a bit on edge, he knew that his creature, this Eden, was not the same as the other one he'd met.
“I-alright. Do you need some water?” clearly something about themself made Victor uneasy, but it had to just be their uncanny-valley sort of appearance rather than anything else, this Victor couldn’t possibly know what an undead being was like, could he?
"Water. Yes. That would be…nice," Victor stammered. He sat up, then absentmindedly tapped one hand on his thigh, trying to consider the next course of action. Sooner or later his secret would come out, did he want to admit it himself and rip the bandage off? Or did he want to wait and let the stitches slowly tear?
He opened his mouth, about to say it, and then closed it. He kept his gaze trained on the floor. No. He couldn't bring himself to admit it just yet.
(Oh, could he?)
“…Sure,” Mina said begrudgingly. She didn’t want to pry too much, but his answer left her unsatisfied. She sat back down, sharing a look with her husband.
“Ahem, sorry, I should’ve introduced myself. I’m Mina Harker, and this is my husband, Jonathan.”
Alek grabbed a glass of water, bringing it back to Victor. "Here you go." He said, stepping back once Victor had taken the water. The blond man looked a bit uneasy; but then again, he always did, so it wasn't anything out of the ordinary.
(Brb in like, 20ish minutes)
Eden went to the kitchen and poured some water into a glass from the faucet, then walked back to Victor, handing over the glass. “My own creator had poor health, I always found a glass of water and a pat on the back solved his troubles more often than not. Well, that and the medication he always refused to take, but my point still stands.” Eden said reassuringly.
(I've gotta go in about ten minutes; will be back at some point tomorrow evening)
"Thank you," Victor said, accepting the water. He took a small sip, his hands still shaking slightly. "It is indeed nice to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Harker. Well, I suppose that now that we're all introduced, we ought to figure out the best course of action? I suppose my best course of action is to spend the day researching, I'm more of a liability than anything else until…"
He waved a hand, careful not to spill any of the water.
"Until this passes. I should be better soon. Hopefully."
“And you,” Mina replied, offering a small smile. Jonathan nodded a greeting, smiling as well. “Ah yes, I was hoping to make some progress today. And no, I think researching is a good idea. You definitely won’t be a liability in that regard. I think I saw the, um, the other Victor go into a laboratory beneath the stairs, by the way. Before you came, I was hoping Mx. Holmes would help with that as well. You seem to getting on nicely, so I think we could get a lot done.”
She pushed her glasses up her nose, then crossed her arms and leaned over the table.
(Just bumping to keep this on the main page. Hopefully.)
"I think that it would be wise of me to avoid the lab today, but if Mx. Holmes will have me, I think that we really could research well together," Victor said. He would certainly visit the laboratory later on, but it seemed like a better plan for him to stay far away from such a place so shortly after his…whatever it had been. An anxiety attack? Some sort of flashback? He made a mental note to read through some psychology textbooks later on.
