Chapter Nine: Glasgow
Glasgow, 23 November 1895
Doctor Richard Paul Dameron descended from the steps of the train, onto the panneled floor of the Glasgow train station. He watched uneasily as the various commuters roamed the place, before it once again came back to him that he was in Scotland.
Scotland. Home to the most strenuos enemies of the British Empire once, and home to their fierce descendants as of now. And he was an Englishman among them.
He turned at his friend, roommate and associate, Doctor Trevor Simon of the House of Lungbarrow. He certainly didn't seem uneasy about being an Englishman in Scotland. Except that he really wasn't an Englishman. Not entirely, at least. Dick knew the story, Trevor had told him all about it two years ago, while they were roommates St Cedd's College of Cambridge. It had been a very bad week for the both of them, and one night the fumes of the alcohol and the opium had loosened them so much that Trevor had let it all out, and Dick had taken it all in. His thoughts had been transported from Trevor's strange (double, one would say) heartbeats to the little Gaelic village of Gallifrey. Apparently it was a little place in Scotland (one would say Ireland).
Trevor's father had wandered there and met a fierce, almost Amazon-like local woman, with whom he'd fallen in love, fathering Trevor. But , six years later, the young couple vanished under mysterious circumstances and, declared the two dead, Trevor's "favorite uncle" (as Trevor sarcastically remarked), Ordinal-General Quences, the paterfamilias of the House of Lungbarrow (which, according to Trevor, resided in South England), had stepped in and gained custody of Trevor, and declared him his designated heir, beforetaking him to Lungbarrow.
Life at the House had been a nightmare to Trevor, who recalled his only friends being his half-brother Irving Braxiatel (who was now an Ambassador of the Crown), his older Cousin Innocet and Koschei, a younger boy whom had been a very intimate friend, if not his best one...and more, as Trevor himself had said, but he'sd been forced to leave him due to being "exiled" for accidentally causing the deaths of two common friends.
Dick still remembered what had happened next. He still blushed bright red when he did. He had always felt deeply ashamed of his sinful tastes in...partners, due to having been brought up by a strict, Puritan family, but that night, with Trevor, he'd found someone who shared his same "tastes" (or rather, Trevor had said that he "swam on both banks of the river" on one occasion, and that he "went to both shops" on another), and didn't find them so sinful. What happened next felt liberating to Dick. Even if it had hurt like Hell.
-Something the matter?- Trevor asked, coming up behind him, his breath on his ear. Dick immediately slided away, as he didn't want people to see them like this, especially in such a public place. Yet Trevor was having none of this, as usual. -Even in a train station there are quiet, dangerous places.-
Richard looked back to him and saw he was looking into a mirror. -Like that mirror?- he joked, but Trevor just looked at him darkly, and said nothing. -I remember the first time I came to Glasgow eight years ago. Studied Medicine under Lister for two years.- he noted casually, before grabbing his bags and setting off, Dick following. Odd, he thought. If Trevor had studied under Lister, why did he go at St. Cedd's? Of course, he understood the need for a Ph. D. degree, a doctorate and a license, but it seemed a bit excessive.
The two men made their way into the busy Glasgow steets and called a cab to 13a MacLeod avenue, where Trevor, using the large sum he'd aquired gambling at St Cedd's, had bought a flat. Dick had always wondered at Trevor's ability in gambling, which he said he'd learnt to appreciate in Texas, his first poker match having been against the famous Far West icon Wild Bill Hickock, the same one during which Hickock was shot dead. Dick knew he was exaggerating, since Hickock was killed in 1876 and both he and Trevor were only six at the time. Or like that time he said he'd been robbed by Jesse James himself in 1872 ". Or that other time when he claimed to have had a long discussion with the Dalai Lama in Tibet, "upon first arriving in this era and world" in 1870, aide
d through one of the darkest moments in his life (possibly the darkest so far) by his old hermit friend and father figure K'anpo Rimpo'che.
But strangeness was not uncommon with Trevor, and he'd grown to love that.
-We're here.- Trevor announced, and paid the driver as they got out of the cab and into the old-fashioned Georgian style building. Their apartment was actually pretty comfortable, with a nice tapestry on the walls and an all-around homely design. -Not bad.- Dick commented. -We'll be like Holmes and Watson in here.-
-Hope not. I've actually tried cocaine before, and it didn't end very well.- Trevor remarked darkly. -I'll guess you'll have to suffer my violin alone till we get our own Mr. Hudson, my dear Watson.-
-I don't mind your violin, actually.-
-And you'll have to be Mrs. Hudson too, not just Watson, in the meantime.- Trevor smirked, mischief in his piercing blue eyes.
-Are you seriously comparing me to a maid now?- Dick huffed, throwing a sideways glance at Trevor, who smiled playfully, but said nothing. Trevor was like this at times. One moment he could be the friendliest and most talkative man you'd ever met, and the next he'd completely shut himself off from the rest of the world. Other times, he'd be restless, with an aching yet faraway look in his icy blue eyes, as if this world was not enough for him.
It was these times that Dick was with him the most, trying to recapture the moment that they'd suddenly lost, trying to bring him back on Earth. But Trevor would always be like this, and Dick had grown to love him nonetheless.
TS
A/N: And 'tis another chapter! Sorry for the delay, I was busy with school and I wanted to get done with my 12th Doctor fanfic, Breaking Point, of which I'm writing a sequel, Heart of Darkness, that I'll publish on 1st November, and will serve as the beginning of my Twelfth Doctor on Earth arc, which will be intertwined with this same story you're reading right now.
Until then, peace & R&R!
