(Untitled)

[iliketodruitt]

John wasn't sure what the island normally looked like, having arrived after it changed, but he was conflicted about its current appearance. The Victorian period held one of the happier times of his life, but also one of the darkest. He was thankful that there was no Whitechapel here, already it was hard enough to be here. It seemed as if half

Comments

[shewaswarned]

Ellen's not entirely overwhelmed by the sudden change in the weather - or in the transformation from island huts to a London city overnight. If anything, it reminds her more of home than ever and leaves her with a bittersweet feeling. She'd arrived with a winter coat on, after all, but when she'd gone to try and recover it from the depths of her closet, she'd only found herself with armfuls of dresses, corsets, petticoats and jackets. By some miracle she'd managed to figure out how to put them on correctly - and maybe it was all the period films she'd watched over the years, but she also finds a way to wear the corset without the feeling of being asphyxiated.

Navigating the streets in a pair of high-heeled boots is a breeze. She's had enough practice doing that at home. Doing it while carrying a heavy skirt is another story entirely. She's so busy concentrating that she isn't sure whether or not the man is addressing her as she focuses on stepping around a patch of black ice.

"Pardon?" she asks, looking up at him.

[iliketodruitt]

"Forgive me, I was mostly speaking my mind out loud, wondering if Santa Claus was going to come. A bit of a childish curiosity I suppose," he said, giving the woman a warm smile. She looked rather comfortable in the outfit, or at least she had put it all on properly, which was a feat in and of itself. Victorian layers were not all self explanatory sometimes.

"But I have heard that he makes an appearance here most years."

[shewaswarned]

"I don't think that happens until later in the month, anyway," Ellen answers, adjusting her skirts briefly until she can stand in front of him without feeling like a ringing bell. "Sorry to dash your spirits."

The admission from a person who she's originally pegged as a newcomer has her glancing up in curiosity. "Really? I hadn't heard that, but leave it to the island to be a continual font of surprises."

[iliketodruitt]

"I have not witnessed it myself, having only just arrived on the first, but several of the people I have talked to have told me that he does come," John said. Out of all the crazy things he had heard about this place, Santa Claus probably wasn't even in the top five, which was saying something.

"And I have heard that there seem to be quite a few surprises to keep the inhabitants on their toes."

[shewaswarned]

"Oh, you'll have more than enough of those if you haven't already," Ellen answers, though she's fairly certain she's right in her assumption that he's new to the island. She doesn't feel any strong pull towards giving him the general tour, since he seems fairly capable of figuring things out on his own, but she's not going to neglect the rules of polite conversation.

Slowly, she offers him a gloved hand, tilting her chin up to meet his gaze. "I can guarantee that Santa might be the least of your worries, Mr. - ?" she prompts, a covert way of garnering his name before she makes her own introduction.

[iliketodruitt]

"Just John," he said, offering her his hand. While the name John Druitt was not widely connected to Jack the Ripper but by only the most die hard Ripperologists, he'd rather not start making even tenuous connections right off. It would only be a short time before someone from his world started putting the warning out, so he thought he should enjoy the anonymity while he could.

"Have you been here long, Miss- ?"

[shewaswarned]

"Parsons," she replies, taking his hand in her own for a quick, firm yet efficient handshake. The fact that he's only introducing himself by first name only strikes her as somewhat odd - she can think of several reasons for why someone would choose to do that, and most of them involve trying to shake off one's past, but how can she fault him for that when much of her time here has been spent trying to do the exact same thing? Still, she won't get too comfortable. Not yet.

"Only a couple of months, but I've dealt with enough in that time to know that Santa is probably a fairly mild version of the island's fondness for surprises."

[iliketodruitt]

"A pleasure, Miss Parsons. What sort of things have you seen in that time?"

It would be good to know what sorts of things he'd have to consider dealing with here. While he had seen many strange things in his long life, he didn't survive as long as he did without planning ahead. While he couldn't necessarily teleport away from danger, that didn't mean he was completely incapable of dealing with it.

[shewaswarned]

"Well, the first week I showed up consisted of everyone winding up with superpowers," Ellen replies, trying to gauge his interest in that little admission alone. Her expression betrays nothing, other than a mild scoff, a disbelieving look, and she gently clasps her hands together - a position eerily reminiscent of the day, she realizes.

"How crazy is that?"

[iliketodruitt]

"Superpowers, really?" John asked, sounding terribly amused by the idea. Of course, he himself had something similar to that back home, but there was no need to discuss that here.

"Quite fascinating. What sort of 'superpower' did you have?"

[shewaswarned]

"Me? Oh, nothing. Not a damn thing," Ellen responds, shaking her head. She's not sure if that had something to do with her only having just arrived a few weeks before, but either way, she's equal parts grateful and a little disappointed that she was spared, even if some individuals seem to have benefitted more obviously than others.

"I was one of the few that remained unchanged."

[iliketodruitt]

"How unfortunate. It would have been nice to be able to fly," John said. Quite frankly, he felt that teleportation was far more useful than flying. Flying was a more common fantasy among people though.

"Or perhaps it would make things worse, to have something like that and then have it taken away."

[shewaswarned]

"Maybe it would," she muses out loud, tilting her head as if to consider it.

"I never got the chance to find out, though. Maybe it's just as well. I could've been setting myself up for some massive disappointment."

[iliketodruitt]

"Or gotten something that was terribly unpleasant," he said with a nod.

"I cannot imagine that suddenly finding yourselves able to read minds would be all that pleasant."

[shewaswarned]

"Maybe not for some," Ellen replies, looking over at him.

"Other people might use it to their advantage - maybe not to the enjoyment of others, though."

[iliketodruitt]

"Did most everyone behave themselves then?"

He knew firsthand just how tempting it could be to use such powers for ill. While it wasn't exactly his power that had turned him mad, he had occasionally used it to... subsidize his lifestyle.