Appearing outside a large mansion on a tall hill in the countryside, the TARDIS appeared behind a great oak tree nearby, the door opening as Theodore stepped out, wearing his mix of clothes that gave him a moniker "retro mod" and behind him, Lila stepped out wearing her usual clothes. She didn't have anything formal, so she made do with what she had, and kept everything a neutral dark gray, keeping with the formalities.
This occasion's a new one for her and Theodore, he's been invited to a dinner party at the Brody Mansion.
Not as the guest of honour, oh no, just an acquaintance of the mansion's owner, Mr. Brody. It'd seem Mr. Brody had a run-in with some delicate troubles that a Doctor helped him with and he wanted to repay the favour with an invite to the dinner party tonight.
The actual guest of honour's an actor, one neither knew, since this isn't their home universe, and they're playing it up as they went as they gathered covert information.
"Can you hear that?" Theodore smiled as he tugged on his stitched dusty long coat.
Lila glanced around as she tried to hear, but the only thing she hear's the creaking in the oak tree's branches.
"No, what're you hearing, Daredevil?" Lila asked him as he turned his head towards her. He gave her the answer, "Not a sound from him barking orders at every turn!"
While working dutifully at the library's nice, sometimes Theodore wanted time away from his older brother. To be sure, he'll come back as he does, but there's a limit how much he's willing to listen to his dear older brother badgering him from hell and back about everything.
He's going to enjoy this dinner party with Lila and not have to hear a peep until they get back, a pity he never got to tell his brother about the dinner party, but alas dear older brother didn't want Theodore bothering him while he's working. It slipped his mind by lunch, Theodore forgot to tell him, and by the time he'd gone home for the night, well, can't do much, can he?
"Careful what you wish for, Theo," Lila reminded him quietly as they're standing behind the oak tree, looking up at the towering mansion on the hill with woven iron fencing circling it.
Theodore sighs as he said he knows, but he couldn't help himself, dear older brother really drives him utterly mad!
"Come on, Hammond just worries, it's healthy. Plus, I think he just doesn't want to have to keep coming up with excuses. Hell, he had to be covert when he switched our day offs so we can do this, y'know," Lila brought up a good point.
Hammond, for what it's worth, does care about his little brother, as annoying as he is towards him, and vice versa. After losing their father suddenly, Hammond's overtly protective of Theodore and Odette. Maybe he's a hard-ass, but he's just doing what he knows best to keep them safe.
He made a promise between both parents to keep an eye on his younger siblings and he's going to do it, so help him God.
"I wish he'd stop treating me like I'm a child, though," Theodore complained that Hammond treated him like some giant child.
Lila retorts, "In fairness, Theo, you're not exactly a shining example of maturity."
She brought up the multiple examples and left Theodore utterly unamused as he eyed her with his icy blue eyes.
"You're supposed to be my companion," Theodore reminds her.
Lila then retorts, "And I'm supposed to keep you righted."
Shaking his head of wild hair, Theodore sighed before he headed with her towards Brody Mansion with a cobbled path leading up to the front entrance with a circular cobbled path that roped around near the stairs and fountain.
The gates opened, they walked through just fine, walked around the fountain, and headed up the steps.
With his large hand, Theodore pulled on the red tethered string with a gold bead at the end near the doors and rung the large bell inside the manor, as he waited by the doors with Lila.
"Ever been to a dinner party?" Lila asked Theodore.
Shaking his head, Theodore told her that he never went to any, often too boring for his like, something he shared with his father. Hammond went to them periodically, but that's because of his job.
"Oh good, we can stand around awkwardly holding plates while trying to come up with conversations," Lila sighs as she crossed her arms.
Never went to them, either.
Even her dad wouldn't bother, said they're too stuffy for his like, give him a time at the bar with his friends, call it a day, and at least a bar's got food and alcohol you can pronounce!
The large doors opened in ward and a butler stood in front of the doorway, looking at them with curiosity.
"May I help you?" He asked them, his posh accent showing through, and Theodore told him that they're there for the party. He showed the butler his invitation and he read it off before nodding.
The butler turned towards Lila and inquired about her, Theodore explained that she's his assistant, and brought her along.
"Of course, sir," the butler nodded before moving out of the way and letting them through the doorway.
Two large chandeliers in the main area with two staircases roping around opposite sides of the main area up to the second floor, light from the chandeliers shining above the polished wood flooring.
"Follow me, if you please," the butler asked them and they obliged, following him to the study. As they're going through the hallway up to the study, Lila asked curiously, "Gee, with how big this place looks, how do you clean everything?"
Without dropping a beat, the butler informed her it took precisely one day and four hours to clean the mansion top to bottom in preparation for the dinner party.
He sounded proud of this accomplishment, so Lila congratulated him all the same, and he thanked her, he worked bloody well hard for it!
"Hannah's inside, feel free to ask her for anything, if you excuse me, I have to check on dinner and wait for the next guests," the butler showed them the doorway into the study where they're to wait while dinner's preparing and the remaining guests.
Lila stopped him for a moment and asked his name, which he told her that it's Alfred Farnsworth.
He disappeared while Lila and Theodore stepped into the study where they heard music coming from the record player and Hannah dancing to the music while cleaning.
She's spooked by the sudden appearance and when she turned around, well, to describe Hannah, she's French. Not Parisian, Theodore didn't recognize the accent. She's as old as them with flushed skin and... going to have back problems the moment she hits forty, less if she's not lucky.
Oomph, Lila never learnt from French from spending a short time in France with her family, but even she knows the swear word for that predicament.
Merde.
In the most terrible French accent to ever spew from an American ten-year-old.
... Lila's grateful for her softballs compared to Hannah's unfortunate soccer balls, in that regard.
Certainly, eye catching with her maid outfit that didn't inspire fantasies...
If Lila's brothers were here, she'd have to smack them with the silver tray on the table to get their eyes back in their heads and their tongue back in their mouths.
But enough of that commentary, there's a dinner party!
"We're guests of Mr. Brody," Theodore introduced them to Hannah as she stopped cleaning to look at them closely while the music from the player continued.
Studying them, Hannah nods before she asked if they liked any drinks, to which Lila accepted the offer of aged whiskey without hesitation as Hannah offered a glass to her.
"So, where is Mr. Brody, anyway?" Theodore inquired the whereabouts of the host.
Hannah said he's arriving later than the guests, he's caught up in something, but promised to arrive before dinner.
Taking a sit next to Lila on one of the couches, Theodore talked to Hannah as she finished cleaning the study before tossing more wood in the fireplace.
"He said something about the Doctor coming, but I don't understand, he never said his name, just that he's coming. I don't even know what he looks like," Hannah admitted that Mr. Brody informed her about the Doctor as a guest of the dinner party.
Mr. Brody never told her what he looked like, but he insisted that the Doctor's coming to the dinner party tonight, and it's infuriating Hannah because she doesn't know his name.
It's hard to properly attend to guests when she doesn't know their names. Or even a nickname, something, it's hard keeping track considering the myriad of doctors Mr. Brody knows.
She wondered what his profession might've been, they have a psychologist coming, so she speculated the Doctor's a medical doctor.
"I doubt that," Theodore smiles as Hannah excused herself from the study, she needed to check on another part of the mansion that the guests would've went to once the dinner concluded.
Alone in the study, Lila quipped, "How does she wear that outfit with those things?"
Theodore shrugged as he replied, "A bra?"
Lila lightly jabbed Theodore as she tellingly said, "I don't think they're doing a good job. Man, I don't envy her at all!"
Okay, maybe a little, but the pain that comes with having that chest's not worth it.
Theodore lightly jabbed Lila back as he reminded her, "Everyone's not built the same for a reason, Lee."
Sighing, Lila nods as she crossed her arms over her chest as she said, "I know, I know. I'd get a recall on the moons though. They might cause a shift in the gravity."
Shaking his head, Theodore sighed as he settled in his spot as Lila drank her aged whiskey in the cut glass.
Out in the hallway, they hear the door bell ring and Alfred talking to someone before there's footsteps coming towards the study.
The door opened and Alfred's leading a man through the doorway while they're talking.
"Please wait here for the moment, sir," Alfred asked the man to stay in the study while he waits for the remaining guests to arrive at the mansion.
Nodding, the man turned towards Lila and Theodore as they sat quietly with curiosity as he came around the study and grabbed a glass of aged whiskey before taking his seat across from them.
He's in his mid-forties, blonde combed over hair with a bushy mustache, complete with slightly cubby cheeks.
A real Colonel Mustard, this one.
Theodore lightly jabbed Lila for that trail of thought.
He's getting good at reading her mind and knowing when she's subtly talking about people.
Lila brought up questions about this, but he assured her that she's a telepath just like him, she's free to read his mind as much as she wants.
Just stop at the "Beware of Leopard" sign, if you don't mind.
"Didn't see your car," the man spoke to them casually as he drank the aged whiskey. He noted that he didn't see the vehicle the two came in and Theodore replied they parked further down from the mansion.
Nobody likes going up and down steep sloped roads, especially on a full stomach.
The answer satiated the man and Lila asked for his name.
He gave it as Colonel Kraft.
"Hm, my dad knows a few colonels from his time. They're his drinking buddies," Lila noted that her father knows a few himself. They sometimes come to the navy base to discuss things with the admirals and by chance Lila's father met his future drinking buddies when he was asked to escort them to the debriefing.
Mom never cared for them, but that's expected when they drink tequila and vodka.
Cognac and whiskey's better.
Aged whiskey's a chef's kiss.
Cognac's for special occasions.
Rum and coke for the lazy nights.
Dad likes spiced rum on the rocks around the holidays, gets him in a festive mood, and he always makes time to grab some for the occasion.
Colonel Kraft talked to Lila and Theodore until they heard the bell ring once again and Alfred heading towards the doors.
There's talking and footsteps coming towards the study with Alfred showing two people through.
A man wearing clothes that fit with Theodore and Hammond's wardrobe complete with a smoking pipe and a woman wearing a low cut red dress with her dark burgundy hair covering much of her neck.
"Sirs and lady, I present you, Scarlet and Professor Rose," Alfred introduced them to the next guests before heading off down the hall.
Judging from their body language, neither Scarlet or Professor Rose knew each other, and Scarlet doesn't care much about Professor Rose.
Seeing how Hannah mentioned one of the guests' a psychologist, it's Professor Rose.
No clue about Scarlet, but she's got an attitude of her own, getting a drink from the tray as she looked towards the others with a look of interest in her sandy eyes.
Theodore decided to boldly ask them all, "So, what brings you to Brody Mansion?"