Berkshire; England: 1898
She was examined the fungi she held in a handkerchief between her fingers, it was small and delicate almost transparent, one would assume it was fragile, frail, her years of studies however told her otherwise.
"Lady Horrington?"
The tentative voice came from behind her; she straightened from her unseemly crouching position. Turning, she smiled pleasantly at the young guard, whilst crumpling the handkerchief around the precious find and stuffing into her sleeve
"Henry, good morning" she said
The young man's eyes went straight to her basket then back at her. He was always nervous when she was around her plants.
"You're not meant to be out her my lady" he kept his voice level but there was still an uneasiness in his eyes
"I just collecting some specimens, I believe we discussed the best time for collecting fungi was early morning" she waved her hand in vain attempt to dismiss him
"None the less, Lord Horrington left explicit intrusions that you are to be confined to the house. Come on back now"
The boy was clearly irritated and she could not blame him. Her husband's wrath was not something you wanted to invoke. She glanced back at the three storey grey bricked manor, it loomed over the fields like some great beast waiting to devour her.
"You understand miss" Henry held out his hand to her "come back now and I won't tell."
"Could we not stay? Just until I have enough specimens?" she almost begged
"You know the Master does not approve of your collection Ma'am"
His voice was gentle but the young face was getting angry.
"But he is in London until the end of the month" but she knew her childlike protest wouldn't do much
"But the folks around here talk and the staff are partial to gossip as well" Henry warned
And not just about her forbidden excursions, she knew exactly the topic of discussion; it had been the same for ten years.
Henry grabbed her arm "Come on now"
There was a strange noise. Lighten rose up from the ground, blinding them and causing a guest of wind that knocked them both down.
She rose back up first. To awestruck to do anything but stare at the line of lightening, now hovering above the ground gently flickering like a candle.
"Stay back my Lady"
Henry was back on his feet, he approached it cautiously, circled it. She did the same. It didn't move, save for the flickering. They glanced at each other both astonished and puzzled. Henry reached out and touched it; his hand disappeared in the light. She peered around the other side of the light, but she saw nothing.
"It's not there, does it not hurt?" she said scrutinising his face
He shook his head and withdrew his hand, holding it up to show it was unharmed.
"Do you have something we could cast into it, perhaps?" she said glancing at the ground for a stone or some such item.
The guard dug in his pocket and produced a coin, which he tossed at it, vanished. They both raced to the other side of the spectre but there was not coin to be seen.
"Some sort of witch craft" Henry muttered
"It's fascinating?" she said in a hushed voice "some sort of gateway perhaps?"
"Right miss we'll get you back to the house and then I gather some lads and sort out this mischief" the lad said almost too eager to get back
"Back to the house" she echoed eyes still on the light "no Henry, I'm not going back"
"What did you say Ma'am?" he asked
She turned and looked at him with a queer expression on her face
"My apologies Henry"
With that she jumped into the light.
Waverider; Space:?
Mick Rory had just finished eating his sandwich in the canteen , he was alone except for his pet rat, Axel, and a bottle of beer (or ten). He glanced around to make sure no one was around and then pulled out a slightly crumpled copy of Fifty Shades of Grey from his pocket, opening at the marked page, he sat quietly and contently reading.
"Huh, even I think this dude messed up" he thought out loud
"All I'm saying she needs time and space"
Ray Palmer's voice cut through the quiet of the kitchen, as he entered heading for the fridge.
"Dude" Nate Steele said as he followed Ray in "it's hard to give her space when you live on the same ship"
Both guys had been sparring by the look of there sweat stained backs. Ray grabbed two bottles of water out of the fridge, handing one to Nate. Spying Mick he gave one of his dopey cheerful smiles "Hey Mick" he called, walking over to join him. Nate followed.
Mick stuffed the book back into his pocket quickly. If the two guys saw they knew better then to ask.
"What you two gassing about?" he gruffly asked as they sat to join him.
"Nate and Amya are having problems" Ray explained
"Well" Nate shifted embarrassed "we're just sorting through some things"
"Yeah, women they'd be crazy" Mick said vaguely, as he took a swig of his beer
"Yeah, like you'd know" Nate scoffed
"What's that supposed to mean?" Mick asked not sure if he had been insulted or not
There was a slight look of fear in Nate eyes but he persisted
"Oh come on, I mean" he gestured towards Mick " it's not like you're the relationship type of guy."
"I've scored plenty" Mick said with some pride
"But have you ever been with someone for more than five minutes?" Nate questioned
"What for?" he said puzzled
"My point exactly" Nate took a gulp of water " when it comes to relationships Mick you're not the smartest guy"
A rumble came from Micks throat as he leaned forward sharply, eyeing the blonde.
"Hey now" Ray quickly stood ready to calm the situation "Mick has come a long way in his interpersonal relationship skills and I'm sure if he wanted to get a serious girlfriend he could. Right?" he glanced nervously between them for confirmation.
"Unlike you dummies, I'm too smart to be tied down" Mick said, keeping his eyes on Nate.
"Guys, bridge now" Sarah Lances voice came through on the ships intercom.
Ray almost visibly breathed a sigh of relief, as Nate stood and walked just a little faster than usual in the bridges direction.
Mick grabbed an unopened bottle of beer and sauntered in the same direction. Ray kept pace with him.
"Hey, um , Mick" he stuttered "if you ever change your mind ,about , you know getting a girlfriend, I could help"
Mick rolled his eyes
"In what way? Haircut"
"You know perhaps introduce you to some suitable life partners, coach you a little in the ways of romance. That kind of thing" he gave a half sheepish look, but seemed also gleeful at the prospect.
"Ain't interested" Mick grunted as they reached the bridge.
Sarah was almost cheerful as they all gathered round the ships consul.
"What's up?" Ray asked
"We've got mail, Gideon play the message" she called
"Certainly Captain" the ships AI replied
A hologram of Oliver Queen sitting at his desk floated above the consul and began to speak
"Hey, Sarah , Ray, Legends hope it's going well. It's been , uh, well several months since I saw any of you, but I'm sure it was like five minutes for you guys. I don't really understand this time stuff, which is why I need your help"
The image shifted and split into several segments showing different areas of Star city. Each one featuring a glowing strip of light hovering above ground.
"Gideon pause!" Professor Martin Stein said squinting at the image
"That looks a multiple fracture in the time continuum" he said turning his head as he exaimined the image
"That's not good, could it be from the time storm we caused ?" Ray asked
"Not with this amount of fractures, and the fact they're in one place…" the Professor paused in thought "we would need to run some scans for background radiation"
Ray nodded in agreement
"There's more" Sarah said pressing a button on the consul, the video continued cutting back on to Oliver's face.
"As you can see there are several of these things all over the city. Felicity calls them 'wibbley woobly timeywhimey doors' for some reason. I have my team, the cities police and outside help on it, but people and .. things are starting to come through. And well, we could really use some Legends to help us out" he smiled wryly "I hope to see you guys soon"
And with that the message ended
"Where's those bureau jerks when you need them?" Mick asked as swigged his beer
"Good question" Sarah said leaning against the consul tapping her hands against the edge
"So what's the plan, boss?" Jefferson Jackson asked
"We'll go to Star City 2017 find out what's going on, message the time bureau on the way, kick this thing in butt and hopefully have time for a drink before the next crisis" she said as walked towards the Captains chair
"That may be the best plan yet" Ray said enthused as always heading towards his seat.
"I like the drinking part" Mick added following suit and sitting in his chair, as they prepared to time jump to Star City.