(no subject)

[jolting]

who: Victor Frankenstein + various
what: catch all log for various things
when: mid/late April
where: his house, the hospital, random coffee shop
warnings: stay tuned

Comments

for Jim

[jolting]

Victor's normal routine when coming home from the hospital was to take off his shoes first, then his jacket and tie. He'd exchange the rest for something casual and with either Jim or Lucy or both helping, they'd get dinner and the evening would go on.

But this time Victor made a beeline for the kitchen. Aside from a bit of social drinking, Victor hadn't touched alcohol in a while. But he was getting it out now and pouring himself a drink. Draining the glass made him feel slightly better, but still very shaken.

Pierce's words kept echoing in his mind and Victor wasn't sure whether he wanted to feel horrified or physically ill. Thankfully Lucy wasn't home so he could have this private breakdown.

[winscenario]

Having come back from Perimeter Guard only a short while ago, Jim had gone straight for a shower, and was literally just finishing getting dressed when he heard the front door opening. He figured it was Victor, but the silence was odd, and he frowned a little, promptly putting on his sweater.

He stepped out of the room and made his way to the kitchen, looking thoroughly cosy in a pair of sweatpants to match the sweater, and a pair of slippers he definitely stole from Victor. Not that any of that mattered, because finding Victor in the kitchen with a drink in hand and that look on his face took precedence.

"Hi, honey," he said with a playful hint to his tone. He kissed Victor's cheek, then took the bottle and poured himself a glass too. "What happened?"

[jolting]

It'd been instinctive to manipulate Pierce and show him the face he wanted to see. Victor didn't even need to pretend all of it, like his ego or his annoyance that anyone would dare suggest he hadn't achieved his ambitions. But in other cases he had to fight every instinct to keep his face and voice controlled.

It was a relief to let that facade drop. He would have to pull himself together a little for Lucy, but for James he could be more honest.

"Someone at work today," he began, "offered me a job doing something... awful to people. He wants to change people at the neurological level. Like brainwashing."

There was no need to explain why that was a particularly disturbing request. Anyone would think so, but especially one with the experience of an early citizen of Storybrooke.

[winscenario]

He managed only a sip of his drink before what Victor said took his attention. He frowned immediately, setting the glass down and leaning against the counter so he was watching Victor intently.

"Seriously," he said slowly. Victor wasn't the only one to be appalled by an offer like that, but then Jim figured most everyone here would have a similar reaction. Jim for one came from a world where something like that would be absolutely unthinkable, but... well, there were likely worlds or species to whom it was perfectly acceptable to do something like that.

Or his very same species, just at a different point in time. Or a different reality.

He wasn't even sure which question he wanted to ask first, honestly.

"Who is it?" If they had someone in the Quarantine that would be capable of doing that, then Jim sure as hell wanted to know who they were.

[jolting]

"Seriously. I never thought that there would be a scientific equivalent to the first curse, but this... feels a lot like it." He swallowed, wiping a hand down his face and taking a deep breath.

"Alexander Pierce. When I first came to the Quarantine, he offered me use of his lab. But it was only for my own projects, and I haven't been back since Lucy asked for me to help teach her math and science. He seemed to think this offer would entice me back."

And maybe he would've been right if he asked a younger Victor. Before Rumplestiltskin and his trick on Regina. Before everything with Gerhardt, and before he was cursed. But Victor never wanted to be that sort of man again.

for Alex

[jolting]

Victor wasn't sure how much he could help Alex. He knew all about having nightmares and being unable to sleep, but he was hardly a psychiatrist and there was only so much medicine could help in this area.

Still, he felt compelled to try. So he waited for her to arrive, mentally running through everything he might be able to suggest for her.

[11calls]

As requested, Alex showed up uncaffeinated. And 'showed up' here means dragging herself in by her fingernails, and without wearing makeup to hide the bags that were under her eyes from her lack of sleeping habits. Fixing them had become a part of her daily makeup habit (which was actually quite small) but she had foregone that this morning in favor of being honest about how bad it was. Besides, she would fix it before she went to work.

When she comes into the office, Alex stifled a yawn before giving him a wane smile. "Good morning, Doctor."

[jolting]

She did look awful, but Victor managed to not use his normal brand of bedside manner by pointing this out. He understood that presenting herself like this was a physical way of showing what she was going through.

"Have a seat," he suggested kindly. "How about we start with how long this has been going on?"

[11calls]

"Thanks." Alex's smile grew a bit more bright at that, because this was going to be easy and not at all a giant thing. So, she slipped onto the chair rather than the table and considered for a moment.

"Two years. Well, probably two years and some change when you add being here into everything. It started before I discovered Maddie Franks' body, got worse for a while, then got a little better and then got much worse when I found out I may have caused the end of the world, and then it kind of just leveled out as things have been static." Yes, Alex just admitted that she may have caused the end of the world that calmly. It was probably not true, despite what Simon Reese had said, but it might be and Alex didn't know. But it had been so long since it had happened, that it was just a fact now.

[jolting]

Victor pursed his lips, letting her talk everything out. Aside for a tilt of the head and a twitch of the eyebrows, he didn't react much to her comment of causing the end of the world.

"Well," he said at last, "like I told you, I can prescribe some drugs. But it's not like drugs will make those issues go away, so I really do think you ought to try finding a therapist here. They won't be Doctor Hopper level, but it can only help."

for John

[jolting]

Meeting all of James's friends hadn't gone exactly as he imagined it. Even as Doctor Whale he hadn't been to that many parties, so just the atmosphere was a little out of his element. The alcohol didn't seem to help much, and he'd ended up spending a lot of time talking to Lucy.

But after their little heart-to-heart over the network, Victor thought he and John could make a second try at this. Maybe knowing a bit more about each other, however screwed up they were, would help.

Victor had claimed a table for them and ordered coffee for himself.

[deploy]

John considered bailing. It wouldn't have been hard. His job is his life, and there's always something demanding his attention. Really, he's too busy to be hanging around coffee shops, chatting up his friend's boyfriends.

But he hasn't been too busy to get fucked up at bars and go home with someone new every night of the week, or to show up to Jim's party and make a fool of himself. Never mind the hours he spent oversharing his thoughts and feelings on the network to strangers. One of which he'd met up and slept with.

Which is why he'd shown up to the cafe right on time, in full uniform with a bag in his hand, and ordered an Americano for himself. It's not hard to spot Victor. They've met before. John hadn't been too drunk to forget him. Just enough to be an asshole.

He gives a casual, probably awkward nod in Victor's direction while waiting for his drink, and heads over when he's got it in hand.

"Hey. Thanks for saving me a seat." He sits down, tucking his legs beneath the chair. Shifts in small, mostly invisible ways to manage his discomfort. Yeah, he's nervous. After the party, and the conversation on the network, his relationship with Victor has been anything but casual.

He lifts the bag he's holding. His peace offering.

"Comics for the kid. Nothing graphic."

[jolting]

Of course Victor had no idea he was chatting with James's friend when they both started oversharing, but through it he discovered the two of them had a lot in common. At least in how they saw themselves and relationships. And Victor knew better than anyone how life-saving it could be finding someone who understood what you were going through.

Besides, he'd been in much more awkward situations than this.

"Thank you. I can't guarantee she'll like them, but we'll give it a shot." He tucked the bag under the table so it wouldn't get in the way. "Still a little weird for me to take care of the daughter of a kid I've known since he was two weeks old. I don't know the mother's side of the family so all I see of her is her father and his family."

[deploy]

"I'm guessing there are some... time shenanigans going on there. Either that, or people age real gracefully where you come from." Who knows. John doesn't waste much time guessing anymore. Everyone's got their own weird backstory in this place, himself included.

He takes a drink of his coffee, trying to settle into his chair.

This is awkward. Victor knows more about him than... just about anyone. Even his best friends, the people he considers his family, don't know about the wants, needs, and fears he'd only been willing to express anonymously. Including his own desire for a family. John's mentioned kids, once or twice, but no one thinks he's serious, and he's happy to let them keep thinking that. It's safer. Less vulnerable.

"You guys doing alright here? It's not the first place I'd choose to raise a kid. Seems like every month there's some kind of drama. I'm just starting to get used to not being used to it."

[jolting]

He chuckled a bit at that. "Yeah, Lucy's from the future. Her dad was a teenager last I saw him." He wasn't going to go into the time shenanigans at length unless John expressed an interest. Storybrooke was a bit much for some people, even with all the strangeness of the various worlds that were represented here.

He sipped at his own coffee while he tried to think of what to say. He never came across someone other than Ruby who he related with as much as John. He wanted to try helping the guy like Ruby helped him, but wasn't sure he could now that the anonymous barrier was gone.

"It's actually not too different from Storybrooke in that regard. I just try to take care of her the best way I can. It doesn't really feel that hard, but then she has so much of her father and grandmother... and I even see bits of her great-grandparents at times. And since I know them all and what incredible people they are, I know she'll be okay." He paused for a fond smile on behalf of the Charmings.

"All you'd really have to do is her bedtime story, and maybe do a science project with her. She loves it whenever we do one together."

for Lucy and Jim

[jolting]

Dinner had been its usual affair and afterward he and Lucy cleaned up. He was a little quiet, piecing together how he was going to talk to her about the latest development in their lives. He always tried to be honest with her about everything and this would be no different.

"Before we get back to Nancy Drew, I need to talk to you about something important." He finished putting away the last of the dishes. "Let's sit over on the couch. You can grab one of your bears if you want." He figured having Doctor Whale or Captain Tiberius around wouldn't hurt.

[thestoriesarereal]

Lucy was picking up on how quiet Victor was. Even though dinner was amazing, and she had fun preparing it with him, there was something on his mind. It made Lucy a little nervous, thinking he was going to go only on nights so she wouldn't ever see him. Or maybe he was going to quit his job, but she was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Once dishes were dried, she was ready to go back to Nancy Drew and find out the conclusion of it, but Victor had other things in mind.

"Okay?" she didn't sound too excited about it, but she didn't go to get either of her bears. She was a year older and could handle things a bit differently now. Lucy sat on one end of the couch and looked at him.

"Everything okay, Papa?"

[jolting]

"Yes, everything's okay." He hadn't meant to make her worry over this conversation. Maybe he should try a different approach.

"How do you like having James live here with us?" She had been the one to insist James stay after he was attacked, and she'd been very enthusiastic about it. But he had since healed and Victor wanted to hear her thoughts.

[thestoriesarereal]

“I like it—I mean, its nice to have someone else to come home to, and Oona likes him.” The little porg that was the family pet. Which was currently napping next to both teddy bears on her bed. She tilted her head to the side a little, trying to think where this was going.

“Why? Does he not like being with us?”

[jolting]

Victor couldn't help smiling as he flashed back to how James practically jumped on him when Victor asked him to move in. "He does. And I thought it would be nice if he lived with us permanently. But I wanted to hear what you think about that."

slides on in... with an accidental novel ig

[cassassin]

[Well, she'd managed to free up her morning, so here she was. Finding her way around Riverview still wasn't as natural as she'd like, but her mental map of the city was rapidly improving, and she'd seen the hospital from rooftops before.

As instructed, Cassandra had asked for Dr. Frankenstein and mentioned he told her to come by. She tried struggling with the intake paperwork, but after a few minutes of failing to get through any of it--even to understand it, never mind to fill it out--she just decided to hold onto it. Asking for help hadn't really occurred to her.

Finally, she's called back by a nurse, goes through the initial height and weight checks. 5'1", 105 lbs. Blood pressure's optimal. The nurses try to make smalltalk, ask questions, but she's uncertain about how to answer them. This is a social situation she has no real point of reference for.

He'd told her to think of this as a physical, but she barely has a concept of what that is. She's been in ambulances that never made it to the hospital, and had emergency first-aid or field medicine done by Alfred or Dr. Thompkins in much less standard conditions than this. And she was patched up countless times in unofficial capacities as a child, of course.

When he comes in, she straightens up a little where she's seated on the exam table, while taking out her earbuds. The clipboard with the untouched paperwork is sitting off to the side. Her jacket is off, short sleeves showing an assortment of criss-crossed scars of varying age over her arms; the faintest ones seem stretched, like they've warped as the skin around the scar tissue grew. Wounds from childhood.]

Hi, Doctor. [Frankenstein is a multisyllabic word she's not used to--and has barely heard--with a weird pattern of phonemes. She doesn't want to risk stumbling over it.]

[jolting]

[Victor was expecting Cassandra to come by eventually. In the meantime, he'd been studying up on the various conditions that would show themselves in a brain scan. Maybe it was his talk with Pierce, but something about her thinking something's wrong with her on the mental level really bothers him.

He has her chart and at least from all the physical tests, she looks perfectly healthy. Not that he really expected to see anything unusual there, but still good to know.

He gives her what he hopes she takes as a gentle smile]

Hi, Cassandra. The results of your physical tell me that you're perfectly healthy, so why don't you tell me about your last experience with a doctor that made you think there's something wrong?

[cassassin]

[She does take it that way, at least. Partly because it comes through that that's the intention behind it. Cassandra nods, though she's not really sure how to explain this.]

It's... complicated. Had an... EEG? Done back home. Didn't have a chance to, uh, follow up on it, but...

My language center isn't... set--no, centralized. Scattered all over. If I try to read, or write, my head can't... make it make sense. Talking doesn't come easy, either. I... didn't think in words. Or... use them, really. Until about two years ago.

[jolting]

That's not really a big deal. A lot of people have problems like that. Has anyone suggested you try sign language? It may help supplement spoken words for you.

[He thinks a moment about the reading and writing] When you try to read, do you get dizzy or experience stomach aches?

[cassassin]

[She shakes her head at the first part.]

My problem's more... unique. [There's a lot underlying the way she's wired.] Some signs help? The simpler ones. Gestures, like... charades. [She used to improvise a lot of her own signs for things before she could talk, but it wasn't codified at all. Basically just miming.] But it's still language, so. Um. Yeah.

[Cass thinks, as far as his next question goes.]

A little? But mostly... headaches. I can, uh, get through a couple of words. Sometimes. It's a lot of work. Writing's worse. [Like, a lot worse.]