gay-thic lit anyone? (o/o)

Robert shrugged, smirking a little. "Fine, perhaps we'll say he's playing Prometheus, then? And currently having his liver ripped out?"
He didn't know why he found the comparison amusing, but he did. Amusingly dark, perhaps. Though, if it's a cult they were talking about, his liver being ripped out could be a real possibility, which was when it really got unnerving for him.
An incredulous expression crossed his face. "You mean to tell me that my presence here makes us unsafe? As if I'm going to do something that jeopardizes this search? How cruel." His mouth pulled into another smirk. He knew what Anna really meant, but he was feeling stupid and brave again, and couldn't resist playing with her words.

“We disagree on what to call fools like him greatly. However, while I do value your presence here, I also don’t feel safe what with how you don’t know how to shut up. And also, how you just love to throw yourself into danger, it’s a terrible habit of yours.” she said. “I hope I can trust you with this, but I don’t want you to kill yourself in this.” the city was far off in the distance, and Anna stayed silent the rest of the way there. The sun was burning high above them, and Anna wiped her brow with a clean rag. When they arrived, she lead them around to a well-to-do kind of place, a flat that was almost a penthouse. She knocked on the door, and a small voice she didn’t recognize told her to wait.

“Strange. Henry never has guests. Well, I suppose we’ll be waiting for a little while longer.” she shrugged.

(Hehe I put more effort into this one. Smth wholesome for when things get too angsty https://s3.amazonaws.com/notebook-content-uploads/content/uploads/original/cbe7e822-b14a-42f6-9a0b-9d18e4b6cf29.jpeg?1615785908)

(Awwwww! I lomve them! Too bad I might be committing an oopsie woopsie soon.)

(Thank you! Also oh boy, can’t wait. I’ll try to respond when I can)

(:O I love it!)

(Thanks!)

He chuckled. “Well, I suppose I am giving him too much credit by calling him that.” Then he laughed. She hit the nail right on the coffin. He indeed did not know when to shut up, but at least Anna let him know. He followed her example; his laughter was sharp but brief, and he silently wished he had something to fan his face with to counter the oppressive heat. He did not want to ask to borrow Anna’s rag. On another note, he thought that throwing himself into danger on occasion ironically saved his life a time or two. But he supposed he couldn’t argue with her, perhaps this was not one of those times.
“I’m alright with waiting,” he said, but his feet were already tapping the concrete, his eyes glancing all over the place, taking in all they could about the flat.

There wasn't much to take in, the shutters were closed and the place looked rather plain from the outside. However, when the door finally opened, your eyes could only focus on the older man in front of you, with snowy white hair and green eyes like springtime, everything about him seemed kind. He was tall, and portly, and took up most of the space in the doorframe one way or the other. But then, the longer you looked, the longer things seemed off. Anna hadn't noticed it, but there was some sin tainting the poor doctor's soul that didn't look like it could get erased anytime soon.

"Welcome! Anna, dear, it's been but a few months but you look fair as anything. How is your wife?"

"Were I not in such a good mood I would draw my sword on you for that remark. And my wife is doing fine, beautiful as the summer sun in sunset as she always has been." she smiled, and embraced the doctor quickly before pushing past him to get inside. "But you know we have more pressing matters. Have you heard of a man by the name of Victor Frankenstein? He was taken to one of those asylums you visit so frequently, the ones you take months at a time off to take care of. Summerhart, I reckon is the one, I read about it in the paper."

(Niiiice!)

Robert jumped a little on his heels when the door at last opened. He gazed curiously at the doctor for a moment, tilting his head, then righting himself and holding out his hand.
“Morning, Doctor,” he said amiably. “Anna has told me a fair bit about you. I’m Robert Walton, Anna’s brother-in-law. A pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

“And I’ve been told a fair bit about you, brave captain. Come in, come in, I’ve just started the kettle and it should be about boiling now.” he chuckled in a merry sort of way, something that was meant to relax even if it was entirely fake. It did its job on Anna, certainly, but could be a bit off putting to an outsider.

“Sounds wonderful,” Robert said briskly, making his way in. Indeed, the doctor’s disposition was not relaxing to him. He seemed nice, but Robert had not forgotten that he had hurt Anna, indirectly or otherwise. Perhaps it would be best not to talk about that now though; he didn’t think Anna would like it, and it might dissuade the doctor from giving them information.
Following after Anna, he said, “Yes, we haven’t heard from Victor a long while, and I was told you might know where he is.”

"Well. I haven't seen him, but I do know where he is. I'll tell you what," he raised his voice a little as the kettle boiled, and led Robert into the little kitchen where he took the kettle off the stove and started pouring cups of tea, lowering his voice. "I can get you both in as my assistants, but we'll have to be very careful. The people at Saint's are very strict about exactly who gets in and out and if we make even a single wrong move, they'll kick us all out and we'll probably never see Victor again. He was… the insane one, right? The one with the eh…"

Henry struggled for a word, and then settled, "the monsters? I heard about it in the news and all over town. Miss Lucy Westenra was quite invested in the story, the poor girl fell ill a while back and I do so worry. Fortunately, a good friend of mine is taking care of her, a Van Helsing? Dutch, very strange but good at his job. Where were we? Ah, yes, Victor. He's being held at Saint's Paradise, it's a care program a little outside the city and into the country. Unlike your common asylum, it is astronomically more gentle in its practices."

Robert couldn't help but chuckle. "I'm sure he was as insane as anyone else in the asylum, but I suppose the matter of monsters checks out."
He went over and stood next to Anna, then furrowed his brow in confusion, looking between the two doctors. "Was he taken to Summerhart and then moved to Saint's? Just to clarify. And where is Saint's Paradise? Wherever it is, I don't believe I've been to that part of the city."

"Honestly, I couldn't tell you. He's been moved around to several locations many different times and while the places share connections I've barely been able to keep up with the news as it is. Cup of tea?" he offered Robert a medicinal smelling herbal blend that didn't look very good, but did look very healthy. "I'm sorry I can't be of more help, but I'm too busy to notice these things." the doctor was looking uncomfortable, more so by the second, and something about the discomfort spoke of fear. "Listen. I don't… I don't think anyone's watching right now. But it's anybody's guess as to how soon they'll start again, so we must make arrangements quickly."

"Honestly, I couldn't tell you. He's been moved around to several locations many different times and while the places share connections I've barely been able to keep up with the news as it is. Cup of tea?" he offered Robert a medicinal smelling herbal blend that didn't look very good, but did look very healthy. "I'm sorry I can't be of more help, but I'm too busy to notice these things." the doctor was looking uncomfortable, more so by the second, and something about the discomfort spoke of fear. "Listen. I don't… I don't think anyone's watching right now. But it's anybody's guess as to how soon they'll start again, so we must make arrangements quickly."

Robert frowned. Maybe his expectations of Dr. Jekyll had been too high. He accepted the tea but didn't drink it, instead pursing his lips and saying, "I suppose I understand… Anna, do you think you know where it might be?"
Something about the doctor's tone made Robert's eyes narrow. "What do you mean? Who would be watching us?"

“Him. The… he can’t know you’re here.” Jekyll suddenly stood up, pushing the two out to the door. Anna protested, but despite the doctor’s advanced age he was still quite strong and they were on his doorstep in mere moments. “There will be a carriage waiting outside the city later today, it’s arranged to take me to my rounds and I think I can get you in if you dress right and act like you know what you’re doing. You’ll be my assistants, but Robert, I need you to keep quiet, no matter what you might see. These places are… horrible.” he shook his head. “Anna, you’ll be less suspicious if you mouth off, but I encourage you not to. You’re professional, people trust you without thinking but that only goes so far. I-“ he doubled over in apparent pain, and shoved them through the door and out onto the front steps. “Go!” he slammed the door, eyes showing fear of something else entirely as he quickly slammed and locked the door.

Fascinating how the doctor subverted Robert’s expectations, in spite of his suspicions. Sure, he had seemed off and rather rambling, but Robert had never imagined it was this bad. It always just seemed like being a doctor and doing what he did had taken a toll on him. It clearly went beyond that, but how so?
He stuttered his protests as he was shoved to the door, but eventually he just gave up and nodded along with what Jekyll was saying. Once the door was shut though, he turned and slammed his fist against it. “Doctor!” He shouted, but knew it was no good.
At least they had some sort of plan. “Anna,” he said more quietly, “I think when this is all over you should start working for someone else.”

“Yeah, sounds about right, but let me kill him first. I don’t usually condone violence, but this seems like an appropriate time.” she said, banging angrily on the door. “Harry! Open up or I swear, you’ll die regretting it!” she shouted, not so loud so it could be heard over the semi busy street but loud enough that whoever was on the other end of the doorway could hear. “I should have never given him those samples. Whatever he did, I don’t think it’s pretty. And if I find out one of his stupid cults is making some sort of army… not that you’d believe me, Robert, but the point is… well, he’s been experimenting with the shapeshifting properties of my blood for a while now. And now I think he’s in over his head, or something, and I don’t know if I can fix it by myself.” she sat down on the front steps and pressed a stoic look on her face even if she felt like she was about to cry. “There’s no use, the fool probably just infected himself. We’ll have to sneak in on the day of, hopefully we’ll have gotten Victor back by then. Something suspicious is in the air, something smells off and until I get to the bottom of this I’m not leaving him alone.”

(Wait… is this what I think it is…?)

Robert set his cup of tea, which had somehow stayed in his hand, just in front of the door. He took a breath. It always seemed like an adventure lie somewhere beyond this place where he grew up, where everything was familiar. Everything strange and beautiful and exciting was somewhere away from here. But now, it felt like an adventure was just ahead of him. And it wasn’t to some far off place across the water; no, it was here. The familiar was becoming stranger and stranger, and it was both uncomfortable and exciting to witness.
“I guess if a man can stitch body parts together and animate it to life, then a woman can be wolf. But I don’t know, I suppose I’ll only really believe it if I see it for myself,” he said. Turning to her and bending down, he gingerly placed a hand on her shoulder. In spite of her brave face, her tone of voice sort of gave her away.
“Something does feel very wrong here…” his brow furrowed. He almost wanted to just move on and forget about Jekyll and keep only his information in memory, but he knew that working for someone as long as Anna had would probably cause some concern of their well-being and hidden secrets. “Perhaps there’s a back entrance into the building?”

"I don't think so. Go check, though, there might be a window or something that you can hoist me up to." she said, running off the front steps. "I can jump the rest of the way if it's too high, but you'll have to give me a bit of a head start because my maximum is only about six feet up, not enough for any of the windows here." she said, watching a figure in the window pass by. "That's not Henry. Is this the guy he warned us about? I didn't think someone watching him would be so literal."

(The Fucked Up And Evil Potion? Perhaps, but like, first some mild kidnapping because Anna and Margaret collectively decided a long time ago that ignoring morals when it suited them was probably for the best and some people ended up noticing that.)

(Mild kidnapping let’s go-)

He turned and looked up. “I can see him, sort of. How curious.” He bit his lip in thought. “Would it be wise to…?”
On the one hand, they could be walking into a dangerous situation. On the other, they could be leaving the doctor in a dangerous situation. He exhaled and joined Anna off the front steps, then walked around the building. There were indeed windows on the back of the building, not as high up as the ones on the front. He walked back to Anna.
“I can’t tell if he’s watching us. There are windows on the back, but I’d feel better knowing that whoever’s up there can’t see what we’re doing.”

“I don’t care much if you don’t mind me saying. We should get me up there, I’ll unlock the door and let you in, and we can figure this out together. But first, I’ll figure out which rat is stalking Harry, as annoying as he is he’s one of my best friends and I wouldn’t hesitate to kill for him.” she said tensely. “I know that wasn’t Poole, it’s his day off. It can’t be another servant, again it’s their day off too and they only come round for cleaning and suchlike. We have to assume it’s a stranger.” she said firmly. “And one I don’t intend on being very kind to.”

He sighed and shrugged. "Alright then. I s'pose stealth is out of the equation." Then he quirked an eyebrow at her. "Says the person he's experimenting on."
He led her around to the back and held out his hands, lacing his fingers together to create a foothold for her. "Just be careful, yeah?"

“He didn’t experiment on me. I simply aided him in one of his projects, now hoist me up.” Anna said, clambering up onto Robert’s shoulders. “And when have I ever not been careful?” it was true that Anna exercised caution wherever she could. However, you would be a liar to call her careful.

"Right," he said dryly, grunting with Anna's weight. "And also, pick a side while you're at it. Do you want to kill him, or do you want to kill for him? Both?"
He chuckled despite himself. "I can think of a few examples. Like last week, for instance." If they were eye to eye, he would've given her a pointed look.
He then fell silent, as Anna was now on top of him and he had to focus on keeping balanced while holding her weight. Taking rhythmic breaths, he inched directly below the nearest window.

“Fine. He’s a prick and a right annoying bastard who acts all smug and superior to everyone and only acts good for the social clout, but damn it if I don’t love him for it. He’s my best friend and I’m not going to abandon him, you hear me?” she said, grunting as she pushed open the window and climbed in. “I’m going to follow that guy, I think I saw them head to the second story. They must be going up to the roof.” she said, saluting to Robert. “I’ll let you in when I have them.”