Sogno all'orizzonte (I dream on the horizon)

[drhjekyll]

The good Doctor is pacing some in his make-shift laboratory. He'd managed to find two adjoining rooms in the massive Mansion, both with thick walls and sturdy doors with solid locks... what better place to do his work? The furniture had been cleared out of the second room but for several chairs, a glass cabinet now filled with various chemicals and

Comments

[minaharker10_2]

*she arrives, holding a leather journal of her own (it's the one Lucy gave her for Christmas, incidentally) and several pens, as well as the key he gave her (she's wearing a crucifix, too, but that's because it's become a habit of hers to wear one in dangerous situations, though this is not one which would neccesiate a crucifix). She knocks on the door first, for politeness' sake, and then takes the key and opens it.*

[drhjekyll]

Henry turns toward the door at the knock and holds it open for her as she enters. "Thank you for arriving on time, Miss Harker. The sooner we start, the sooner we can finish." With that he hands he the journal. "Guard this well, it has many valuable details in it. Before you leave, lock it in here with the same key that let you in." He gestures to a drawer in a desk.

"Are you any good at chemistry, or should I dictate for you as I go?"

[minaharker10_2]

*she nods in response to his first instructions, and to his question she says* You should probably dictate. I know a few of the basics, but not enough for something of this complexity.

[drhjekyll]

"All right. It will only be measurements at first, but one the formula is together I will need you to write down any observations. There is a letter in the journal addressed to Hyde, if you could be certain he reads it, that would be incredibly helpful."

[minaharker10_2]

I shall do so. Do you mind if I take the initial notes in my own journal, in shorthand, so that I can do so more quickly? I will transcribe them into yours later, and no one but my husband will be able to read the shorthand.

[drhjekyll]

"No, I don't mind at all. I trust your husband won't be trying to duplicate the experiment, it won't be a problem. Are you ready to start then?"

[minaharker10_2]

*she nods* I am.

[drhjekyll]

And so the good doctor will dive into his work, speaking as he goes and describing the process and measurements in detail, expecting that she'll ask questions if she needs clarification anywhere along the way. When finally the formula is mixed, Henry holds it in the light.

"The final product of HJ8 is clear. Odorless, but is a white mist forming even though it's cooled. The formula is evaporating at room temperature, which means it can't be stored for any definite amount of time. Twenty mL to be injested orally. If you could write a question at the bottom of the page to investigate the change in color and odor, that would be helpful." He stops to pour some of the fluid from the erlenmeyer flask into a beaker.

From there, he downs the liquid quickly and continues speaking. "How odd. It's ice cold. It was always warm before. Why would it be evaporating if it's cold..?"

[minaharker10_2]

*she writes quickly, almost automatically; she's good at this, and Henry is good at describing proceedures and experiments. At the point when he drinks the liquid, she writes, still in shorthand, but this time skipping a couple lines first:

At this point, the already listed dosage of the formula was ingested.

She pauses for a moment, listening to his next statement, and then continues recording:

Surprising result: formula is ice cold when before it was warm. Question: Why is evaporation still occuring despite the change in temperture?

She's very quiet now, and watching carefully. At any moment he'll turn into Hyde, and then she'll need to be far more careful.*

[drhjekyll]

He's impressed with her notation skills, the whole ordeal taking about half the time it would take him to not only perform the experiment but to take his own notes as well. Yes, this situation would work out quite well.

And then the wretching pains come, causing the doctor to double over in his agony. His stomach twists itself into knots his body aches and his mind reels.

But this is not how it should be. He'd been through the motions a thousand times before, but this felt different... not as it should be. When he finally forces himself to speak, it's through gritted teeth as he clutches his gut.

"Something's wrong. He's tampered with something... Check the cabinets. Are they locked?"

[minaharker10_2]

[Typist: Should they be?]

[drhjekyll]

[Typist: Doesn't really matter, I can work with it either way. ^^ Kind of improvising as I go]

[minaharker10_2]

*she quickly finishes her notes and runs to the cabinets, trying to open them but finding herself unable to* They are.

[drhjekyll]

The doctor moves to a drawer and draws a key, holding it out for her while he can feel Hyde's chilling laugh and taunting voice rise from his own throat.

"Tick-tock Doctor, time simply flies when you're having fun..."

"Brown bottle, third shelf, unlabeled..." He manages as he starts pouring chemicals used in the formula from their bottles one by one, not caring where the fluids and powders spill as he searches for whatever Hyde has tampered with.

When sifting through a white powder, Henry suddenly turns stark white. "The bottle, now."

[minaharker10_2]

*Some fear has made Mina's hands a fraction of a second slower than they normally would have been, but a second could go on forever. She fumbles with the key in the lock and her eyes skirt the shelves, finally settling upon the bottle Henry requested. She grabs it and hands it to him, even that simple task feeling as though it has been too long delayed, that she has caused some sort of disaster with her failure at it.*

[drhjekyll]

The fact that she is there at all has saved him seconds more, perhaps even minutes. Time that could very well save his life, if what he suspects is true.

Henry grabs the bottle and downs it, its contents forcing him to vomit what is making him ill and more besides to get it out of his system. It is a terrible feeling and likely a terrifying thing to witness, but it's quite possibly saved his life.

Hyde will not be making an appearance this night. He'd had his fun, had replaced a key chemical component with not only powdered milk (the doctor is lactose intolerant), but what Henry suspected to be cocaine, which would be deadly injested in the quantities the doctor had placed in the formula.