tampered | (no subject)

(no subject)

When; June 6
Rating; PG
Characters;

prof_wordsworth
Summary; Professor Wordsworth has Charlotte over for tea. Charlotte gets her first real social interaction with someone from another world.
Log;

Charlotte hesitated a moment before knocking on the door of number 190. D's warnings and the events of the past two days made her wary of strangers in this city. But Professor Wordsworth had seemed nice enough. And after avoiding any liquids yesterday, a nice cup of tea would be a welcome treat.

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William opened the door and smiled, "Charlotte, do come in."

He led her to the sitting room, "Sorry about the mess, I'm doing research and I have a flatmate now."

The flat wasn't too much of a mess, books and papers were everywhere but it was mostly neat and clean.

"Please sit down, I'll get the tea ready."

Charlotte put on her best smile as she followed him into the sitting room. Things were a bit cluttered, yes, but there was a definate system of organization.

"Oh, that's quite alright," she said as she seated herself by the table. "I must say, I'm actually quite impressed. My brother Alan could never get by without a maid, but you seem to have things well in hand."

William gave a small laugh, "I do have a maid in my world but the poor thing keeps to the dusting most of the time. I'm rather happy with myself, keeping this flat in some order."

He placed the tea set on the table and began to serve, "This is Ceylon, after yesterdays curse, I think this will do us both some good."

He gave her a steaming cup and pointed at the suger bowl, "Help youself."

Charlotte accepted the cup with a smile and qietly stirred a spoonful of sugar into her tea.

"Is your world similar to this one?" she asked. "I'm afraid the concept of multiple universes is a little puzzling to me."

"Up until 3 weeks ago I had a hard time getting my head around multiple universes as well."

He sipped his tea and sat back, "My world is vastly different, for one thing unlike everyone here, people in my world can't use computers, most don't know how."

"Yes. Mine is the same. We have machines, but very little technology."

She stared at her tea before continuing. "Most of the technology belongs to beings not welcome in human society."

"Let me guess, Vampires?" William said softly, not missing the look on her face.

Charlotte almost jumped when he said it. She looked up at him and studied his face. So many saw vampires as a threat. But he'd said it so casually.

"Yes," she replied, her voice barely shaking. "But how would you know that? Are there vampires in your world too?"

William put his cup down and sat back, "Not as you might know them. Vampires in my world are named Methuselah and are in fact still human but for some differences. It is a virus in their bodies that drives them to feed on human blood but even that is no longer needed, thanks to a small pill."

William sighed, "Normal humans have been at war with Methuselah for 900 years."

Charlotte took a sip of her tea to hide her discomfot. Vampires created from a virus? Those from her world would see that as a perversion.

"I see. Those in my world are something of a different species," she said and stirred her tea. "Humans and vampires have fought for thousands of years. Very few have been able to meet a vampire and survive."

William took out his pipe, "I hope you don't mind if I smoke?" He asked with a small smile, "There is hope for peace in my world. I am glad of it, far too many people have died."

He gave Charlotte a long look, "And what of yourself? Were you running from something before you found youself here?"

Charlotte smiled slightly as he lit his pipe. "No, that's fine."

His next question nearly made her tip her cup. She managed to stop her hand without too much obvious effort and instinctively stared at her hands.

"What makes you say that, Professor?" It took all her effort to keep her voice from shaking.

There was a thoughtful look on William's face as he spoke, "I have found during my time as a teacher and prist that most people are running from something or someone."

He allowed the smell of the tobacco to relax him, remembering what he had done was never easy for him but if he could help this young woman, it would be worth it.

"I ran for a long time before I stopped and truly forgave myself."

"I suppose you're right," Charlotte said and tried to smile. "In truth, I was actually running with someone: a vampire named Meier Link."

She shifted uncomfortably and looked out the window. "Father and Alan were just like everyone else. They couldn't understand, so they assumed I was kidnapped."

She was suddenly very aware of him watching her. She quickly searched for something to change the topic. "What have you been researching, Professor? There certainly is a lot of material here."

William sat forward and gave Charlotte a gentle smile, "I won't judge you Charlotte, I have no right to. I am here if you need me."

With that, he sat back. He picked up his tea cup and took a sip. "I've mostly been reading books about the different worlds that people have come from. And I'm working on a device that can open a portal back to my world." He gave a small shrug, "Even though people have told me that there is no way out of here, I still plan on trying to find one."

Charlotte looked up with a nervous smile. She had no doubt she could trust him, but for now some things were better left unsaid.

"Thank you," she said.

"That sounds like a lot of complicated work. Does your roommate help you with all this research? It seems like a lot for one person to attempt."

William gave a small laugh, "Abel would only get in the way, so he doesn't help me."

He looked at Charlotte for a moment, the poor girl was lonely, that was clear and he could use some help with all the paper work.

"You could help me if you like, it's only a matter of time before I lose track of all my work."

Charlotte smiled pleasantly at the offer. Professor Wordsworth really was a sweet man. And his concern was becoming increasingly obvious.

"I would be glad of the distraction," she said. "But I'm afraid you will have to give me a few lessons in your work before I am able to help. As I said, technology isn't terribly common where I come from."

William waved a hand, "Don't worry about that, you can work with whatever you feel at ease with."

William got up and and showed her to a bookcase, "I'm buying books all the time, so help with sorting them will be nice and any note taking you can do would be good as well, so nothing for you to stress yourself about."

Next he showed her the pool table, which was covered in papers, "Mostly, just keeping my papers in order and you are free to tell me off." He said with a grin.

Charlotte examined the bookcase and piles of papers. There was so much, but perhaps that would be a good thing. She needed something to keep her mind on in this strange city.

She thought back to the systems her father had used to organize the family library and saw a way to easily recreate it here. Filing the papers would be another issue entirely.

"Of course, Professor," she said and gave him a happy smile. "How soon would you like me to start?"

William rubbed his hands together, "Wonderful. And you can start whenever your ready."

They sat back down and William poured some more tea, "It will be nice to have voices filling the flat, it's felt a little lonely since I came to the City." William said thoughtfully.

Charlotte gratefully accepted the second cup. She had a feeling working with the Professor would be quite relaxing.

"I'm sorry to hear that," she said. "What did you do back home, Professor?"

"When I'm not a prist, I teach and when I don't do that, I'm an inventor." William said with a grin.

"I work for the Vatican, I hope that's not going to be a worry on your part." He said with a small frown.

"I see," Charlotte said. "Inventing must be an interesting profession. YOu truly are a man of many talents. But I'm afraid I've never heard of the Vatican before, so I'm afraid I don't see why it should present a problem."

"A-ah," William nodded, "Well, it's the religious organization in my world and a very powerful fighting force, it's been at war with the vampires in my world for a long time. But just before I was transported to the City, a back door for negotiation had been opened."

"I see. You must have worked hard to achieve the negotioations," Charlotte said, a note of admiration in her tone.

"Negotiations between vampires and humans in my world is virtually impossible. Humans see vampires as monsters, and we are little more than cattle to the majority of vampires," she added sadly.

William nodded, "For 900 years it was much like your world but the person I work for, Cardinal Caterina Sforza, she fought to start peace negotiations between the humans and the Empire."

William sighed, "But we have an enemy, who would like nothing better then to see the Vatican and the Empire go to war. They are the Rosencreutz Orden and some members are here in the City. Once they find out you work for me they might try to turn you into a spy, so be on your guard."

Charlotte smiled at his first remark. "It seems our worlds are not all that different, Professor."

However, his next remark caught her off guard. A secret organization? Wanting her to be a spy? How did she always find herself in dangerous positions?

"O-of course. But tell me, are these people particularly dangerous? So far I haven't met anyone to worry about here, but D has warned me dangerous people do exist."

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