Johnathon stares at the books in front of him, he's seen books similar to this in his travels, and they've only brought ruin to those who've had them. He licks his lips nervously as he looks over them, his concentration is broken by a polite cough by Subaru, and a familiar scent of well made tea.
"Oh, thank you my friend." Johnathon says weakly, all of today's events has left him exhausted it seems.
He listens to Subaru's proclamation, and Henrik's addition, nodding along; drinking his tea in contemplation.
"I owe the professor much for what he has done for me, he was my teacher and somewhat of a father figure for me in my youth, and has taught me much of what I know now. This mention of spirits and such intrigue me, I have seen many things over the years I have not been able to explain." Johnathon adjusts his glasses. "The Eyes of Thoth have shown me countless things I do not understand, perhaps by starting at this crypt will yield some information on what the bloody hell is going on here."
Felix gives Subaru a reluctant look, oblivious to the tea. Felix himself did not often mention being able to listen to spirits, but Subaru is the only other person he has heard mention meeting them before. The only one who has not seemed mad, at least. Still, the prospect of holding a conversation with the spirits is somewhat overwhelming to Felix on principle. They did not exactly talk like people did.
Regardless, everyone is convinced that Felix will be useful. Though he does not pipe up for this reason. "I isn't going to stay here if all you is leaving. No sense all of you being rude to some spirits because you isn't listening." He points to his ear. "And, too right, you got all this stuff hanging off you, you need someone to keep sticky hands away from you on the streets. A wonder none of you have nothing missing already."
Bandit lets out an amused trill.
Johnathon lets out a hearty chortle.
"Then its settled! Johnathon says with a weak smile. From the sounds of things though, whatever the Professor was getting up to was dangerous, dangerous enough that he was worried about his life, Subaru, it may be pertinent that we pop back home first to pick up our travelling gear." looking towards the books. "Perhaps we should deal with these on the way? Kendra will need some time to grieve, and considering the hour, I think it would be best if we left her for the night, a good cry followed by sleep will do the girl good. These books however," Johnathon says, a slight quiver of uncertainty in his voice. "T-they should b-be dealt with a-as soon as p-possible, last thing K-Kendra needs is the problems t-these books tend to b-bring."
Subaru resists smiling at Felix, stealing is of course very dishonorable but his precocity is still somewhat endearing. And in any case it will be good to have one with a mastery of the spirits to assist us. Subaru has not encountered one with such a power in London, or at least one who seemed to actually be telling the truth.
"I think that is a good idea sir" says Subaru, nodding along to Johnathon's words. He also thinks that these discoveries should be kept from Kendra, she is under enough stress and there is no reason to risk making her feel any worse. He finishes his tea and steps forward to collect the books. He places them back in the sea chest and picks the chest up, thankful as always that he has kept his strength up over the years.
"Johnathon is right, we should collect all that we need. Felix, Doctor, you are welcome to return to our manor before setting out to this graveyard"
As the party slips out of the Lorrimor house, a bell somewhere tolls eleven times. John and Subaru lead the party down street after street until they come to a wide, open field overgrown with now-dead weeds. There, perched above the other nearby buildings (and at a safe distance away from them), sits an old, decrepit building. Its broken-out windows stare down at the street disapprovingly, and the sagging shingles of its half-burned roof bow ominously inward. A sign over the wrought-iron fence reads "Harrowstone Mental Asylum".
A few feet from the gate stands a stone memorial with a plaque. The first few words include Dedicated to those who died in the..., but the rest is impossible to make out due to the slaughtered cat lying across the letters. It's been disemboweled, its insides spread around on the plaque, and on the stones next to the plaque is a letter written in blood.
V
Subaru withholds a shudder as his eyes behold the asylum. This place unnerves him deeply, and unseats even his rigid self control. However with a steady clasping of his hands into fists behind his back he keeps himself from reacting outwardly. We will return here soon he thinks, both an affirmation and a promise to himself and the late Professor. Respecting the wishes of the dead is very important, and Subaru is determined to see this duty through. Still, even such an important task demands care, if anything it demands an even greater degree of caution.
"We should return after we have seen to the graveyard" Subaru says, speaking softly in the cold London night. His breath fogs before him as he speaks "Nothing can be gained from moving prematurely."
Still, even with this said he finds himself studying the dilapidated building. Looking over the old, half-ruined edifice of the clearly once proud structure he wonders what Professor Lorrimor could have been investigating here. He had always been a strange one, but even Johnathon and himself in their heyday would have avoided such a macabre locale, let alone the old Professor. Whispering way he thinks, Necromancers, ghosts. A shiver runs up his spine in a sensation most unpleasant as he thinks this. It had been less than thirty minutes ago that he had been trying to convince Doctor Klein of the existence of spirits, but part of Subaru does not want to believe the Professor's words. He was a trusted friend, but who would easily accept such a hellish suggestion.
As these dark thoughts pass through his head rapidly, more half conceived fears and fancies than a true mental analysis, he reaches out with his senses. Ears trained for the movements of warriors can just as easily hear creeping thieves or malign spirits, and his golden eyes seek detail within the hazy gloom.
As he looks he realises that he and the others have already stayed for longer than they should have. "We should return to our manor for weapons and supplies, as well as perhaps a cup of- ah." He cuts himself off as his eyes seize upon the bloodied corpse of the cat, and the gory letter inscribed beside.
Immediately he drops into a warriors stance. His hands reach for a sword that is not there before settling into a basic Karate form. His attention is split between the corpse and the letter. Part of his mind searches frantically for any significance of the letter 'V' and the rest is fixed upon the sorry cadaver. Despite his experience in battle it slightly turns his stomach. No animal deserves such a thing.
"Doctor" he growls, in a voice low and steady "If it pleases you, put your medical knowledge to work on that poor creature; then let us depart from this evil place with haste."
und für die liebe zu Gott und seinen engeln, halte ihn aus einem asyl
Henrik stands before Harrowstone, his ears ringing with the ten-and-one chimes and echoing with the words from his father's letter, all those years before. It seems that my mother failed, but not in the way she had expected, he thinks, staring at the letters in the wrought-iron gate.
"... put your medical knowledge to work..." Subaru's voice pierces the shroud of whispers; he snaps his head sideways to stare at the morgenlander before nodding in firm agreement. "Very well. Let me see..." He rummages in his coat pockets before producing a pair of slim-fitting leather gloves; he removes his coat (hanging it over the memorial), buttons the gloves over his shirt-cuffs, and crouches down next to the plaque, looming over the dead cat like a mortician over his patient.
Placing the back of one hand against what remains of the cat's chest, he frowns, his breath misting in front of him and mixing with the steam rising from the creature's entrails. "This is recent," he states matter-of-factly. "There is no doubt in this. I estimate time of death at no more than a quarter-hour ago." Showing all the poise and precision of a surgeon, he lifts the dead cat and moves it to one side, placing it in the snow and pushing the entrails aside, attempting to read the remainder of the inscription.
Harrowstone looks a danger to some, an opportunity to others, and an ill-omen to Felix. Bandit smelled the blood on their approach, drawing Felix's eyes to the dead cat before most had even laid eyes upon it. Apart from a grimace, he does not see it as anything else but scenery. Subaru's reaction almost makes Felix guffaw. Almost.
It is the letter in blood that makes Felix wonder. Any stray dog could get lucky and catch a cat before being shooed off. A person had to be involved in some capacity to leave a finger-painted 'V.' Felix thinks it oddly specific.
"Not many folks are like to do that for a giggle," Felix thinks out loud while Doctor Klein does his work. "What happened in this place, anyway?"
For all the party's desires to move on the supplies in the mausoleum, Felix was most interested in the rest of the words on the memorial plaque. He does not even consider the recent nature of the cat's death to be strongly connected to them or their mission.
Subaru watches with distaste as the Doctor does his unwholesome work. He knows full well that Klein is a man of science, but being so easily familiar with the innards of a living creature is something that he does not enjoy the idea of. He relaxes his frame slowly. I suppose there is no point panicking he thinks perhaps I merely overreacted. But still, this scene is deeply disquieting to him.
"Then whatever did it might still be nearby" he muses after the Doctor talks. Let us hope that it was just a particularly rabid dog he thinks to himself. He does not respond to Felix, thinking that there is little point talking if he does not know anything useful. However he does step forward to look at the rest of the inscription, still moving slowly and carefully.
If Klein notices the reactions of Subaru and Felix to his grisly task, he shows no sign of doing so, continuing instead to methodically wipe away the gore with a crisp linen handkerchief. "Many things, Felix," he says in a low tone, searching through the whispers for more knowledge he can impart to the boy. A voice like a whisper, then a scream, rises in his mind, a tortured howl that causes his hands to twitch and his eyes to briefly clench before imparting its memory.
"Subaru," he says in a forcibly level tone, "If you suspect someone may be nearly, would you care to look for them?" His words spoken, he forces his eyes open once more and rubs the handkerchief in the snow to clean it, leaving a pink stain by his right shoe.
It's the names with the "G" that trigger memories for Klein. From what he'd read, Harrowstone's upstairs included the latest in technology for restraining and repairing lunatic minds, and was often filled past capacity. Many of the doctors there published papers in journals about experimental retraining techniques ranging from lobotomy to sensory deprivation and physical reinforcement. However, the basement levels were reserved for the criminally insane.
Subaru stays aware but there is little to look at - even with his eyes - in the gloomy night. He nods at the Doctor's request, he begins to walk a slow circuit around the general area, looking for anyone, or anything that might be present. He says:
"I shall look Doctor, but we should depart soon. Truly he wishes to stay, or at least part of him does, but the greater part cautions care and restraint, and it is this part of him that has been in control for many decades.
He stays close to everyone else, interested to hear if the Doctor knows anything about Harrowstone that he does not.
"I have heard much of the experiments and procedures performed here," Klein says calmly, washing his gloves in the snow in much the same manner as his handkerchief before folding them neatly. "The upper levels of the establishment housed a technologically-advanced asylum, filled with an overabundance of patients more frequently than not. Basement levels were set aside for the sole purpose of containing the criminally insane." As he stands, he takes his coat from the arm of the memorial, swings it on, and tucks the gloves and handkerchief in an inside pocket, where two tiny flasks clink softly. Fixing his eyes again on Felix, he says in a low tone, "The procedures here included lobotomies and sensory deprivations. I would question your resolve, but I understand there is little point to it. The necessities of science and medicine are beyond the comprehension of some."
Seizing his cane and looking to Johnathon and Subaru, he clears his throat and finishes, "We must explore this place, and I admit I have held a curiosity about the deeds performed behind its gates for some time. However, we should prepare ourselves accordingly. If we are to prepare at your home, would you be so kind as to escort me past my apartment first?"
Subaru continues to scan the night as he listens to the Doctor. However he eventually stops his pacing and stands still to talk to Klein, it would hardly be polite to keep moving around whilst doing so.
"Experiments? Subaru wrinkles his brow in thought and rubs one hand against his chin. He immediately returns it behind his back - realising both that he was losing focus, and that stubble is springing up on his face. He would have to shave before they headed out again, it would not be proper to be seen looking so scruffy.
"Doctor, I have only a passing knowledge of medical experimentation. Do you suppose that the doctors working in this place could of had some connection to this cult that Professor Lorrimor's letter mentioned?" He immediately adds, with a small bow of the head "Not that I would wish to cast even the most minor aspersions on your profession.
Indeed Subaru has only trust for most of the medical community, but power over health and sickness is still power of a sort. I dearly hope that all involved were responsible and ethical he thinks. I cannot imagine that Doctor Klein would be pleased by some cult of surgeons. He tries not to even consider the effect it may have on Felix, as young as he is. Johnathon has seen his share of horrors of course, but even for his sake Subaru hopes the coming expedition goes smoothly and swiftly His master may still be quick and spry, but he is beginning to get on.
He tries to shake off these feelings of nervousness but the corpse of the cat has him on edge. After a few deep breaths he says:
"And of course we can pass by your apartment, if that if fine with you, Johnathon and Felix. Best that we all have what we need"
Felix cranes his head forward and squints his eyes to read the plaque. As he holds his mouth slightly open and pieces together the syllables, he finds no names that he recognises. Doctor Klein's attention makes him end his squint to return the look.
"So, it were a loony bin, eh?" Felix confirms with foggy breath. "I don't know anything about any of them 'procedures' you say of, but it must be unpleasant if it makes you uneasy." Felix's choice of words leaves the direct question of Klein's resolve explicitly unasked and answered for him, whether truthfully or not.
As for the detour, Felix answered Subaru with a sideways look, a frown, and a brief rhetorical question. "Does it look like I got other places to be?" He rubs his hands together. "Let's walk, this street's got a nippy draft."
Johnathon stares towards the asylum, his eyes wide, his expression blank. He could see, nay, hear them, the voices of hundreds, the visages of thousands. The Eyes of Thoth had wanted Johnathon to see, and showed him they had.
He snaps out of what had only been an instant to see the others crowded around the corpse of a cat; the images he had seen quickly leaving his memory, as often happened.
"What the bloody hell is that?" He asks.
He waddles over to take a closer look at the grisly sight, and looks at the names that the others are pondering over. Not immediately recognizing any names he shudders as he looks at the grisly sight.
"This day just keeps on getting better doesn't it." He somewhat mutters to himself.
He looks to Klein as he makes his suggestion to explore, and his request to walk him to his apartment on the way to Johnathon's home. As Subaru makes his speculation, chills run down his spine. I surely hope not.
Felix's attitude and way of talking brings a glimmer of light to this dark scene, Johnathon flashes a smile before straightening himself.
"Rightio chaps, sorry for taking so long, my mind seems to be wondering in my old age." He chuckles nervously to himself. "Lets be off then to collect our things, and perhaps something to eat before we head back off, its been a long day, and I believe we all deserve a few scones.
He makes a gesture away from the grisly scene, and starts to walk off in the direction of where he presumes Klein's house should be.