milliways_bar | (no subject)

Carlotta hesitates, wondering whether he's working.

Except then it looks like he just blew something up on the screen, so she wanders over.

Things aren't looking too good for Malcolm's front lawn. There definitely seem to be more zombies than cute little plants. He's grumbling a lot as he frantically starts planting little mushrooms everywhere.

"How about a little sunlight again, dammit?"

"Dr Crowe?"

Hm. Maybe shouldn't have interrupted his game.

Ooops. Malcolm looks up, a little more wild-eyed than usual ~~it's not his fault stupid videogame~~.

He quickly blinks that away, and then pauses again for a moment before his eyes widen slightly again, this time in cautious recognition.

"...Carlotta, isn't it? How are you?"

Edited 2013-04-13 03:14 (UTC)

"Not bad thanks, you?" Carlotta says. She hesitates then asks. "Did Kate or Demeter talk to you at all?

"Only that you wanted to talk to me about something."

Carlotta sits down nearby.

"If you're not busy right now... it's actually about my husband Will. We got married the day he got called up to war, he was recruited to the RAF and I later joined the secret service.

We both were stationed around Gibraltar for a while - him on the peninsula, me near the border on the Spain side, not that we knew it until he crashed his plane the wrong side of the border.

Anyway, he blew my cover quite spectacularly when I tried to get him back to Gibraltar, which is how I ended up sent home injured. He stayed in the RAF until the end of the war while I had our daughter. But when he came back, he was very different."

"Has he talked to you about what that experience was like? What kind of things he saw?"

"He won't." Carlotta says. "Other than saying he was forced to do a lot of things and if he told me I'd despise him.

What I do know is that he can't bear crowds looking at him. He had a terrible alcohol problem which started during the war - he's been so drunk that he's cheated on me on at least three occasions, one of which resulted in a child. He's been sober and attending AA meetings since November."

"Ok."

"Here's a harder question, but I have to ask it, Carlotta: do have reasons to think he wants to get better? Enough that he might talk to me about it?"

Carlotta is quiet for a moment.

"I think he wants to get better. I'm less sure he thinks he deserves to. Reasons... well, we have a seventeen month old daughter. He also has a son who's about two, but we lost custody and he's not been able to see him.

He's better than he was since he stopped drinking, and he's working at the stables most of the week at the moment, joining me and Molly - our daughter - from Sunday to Tuesday. He said he didn't want me losing the circus, and the business could go under without some serious input."

She runs a hand through her hair. "He agreed to see a psychiatrist before, but that one told him to 'get a grip'."

Malcolm clears his throat in annoyance. "Not much help, was it?"

"If he's not drinking, that does help. And having a job he likes is a good sign too."

"If that other 'doctor' hasn't turned him off of psychiatry, I can try to do what I can. I can talk to him, at least. See if he's open to the idea."

"No it wasn't, and he only kept going because the other 'doctor' told him he'd get locked up if he didn't."

She nods. "Will loves horses. And I think he'd be prepared to talk to you, if you won't be offended if he's a bit... distrusting."

She looks down. "I've known Will a long time and... I believe he's still in there, just there's a lot of other stuff going on in his head. He's a gentle man and his conscience is tormenting him."

Malcolm smiles. "Don't worry about that. It's the patients who trust me too much from the start that I tend to worry about."

"Should I look for him in the stables, or would that be stepping into his territory? The bar can be more neutral sometimes."

"He doesn't come here, I mean stables at home." Carlotta says. "But at the moment it's Sunday so he's at the circus with me."

"Oh, I see." Malcolm smiles. "So he's actually looking after horses, and not whatever we have out out back of the bar these days."

"Will loves horses." Carlotta says, nodding. "That's how we met - his family's stables are near the boarding school I went to. He can tame a wild beast to be soft as a kitten."

She hesitates and asks. "Would you be able to come and talk to him now please? The portal back is reliable."

"Ummm....," Malcolm thinks for a moment, obviously a little surprised by the request. But then, "Sure, I can do that."

He eyes the rest of his scotch and decides finishing it probably wouldn't be the best way to start a workday, so he asks Bar for a coffee to go, and then slides off his seat with a smile and coffee to go in hand.

"Lead the way."

"Thank you." Carlotta leads him towards the door.

"I'm sorry to be so much trouble." she says, embarrassed by his surprise, but leading him through.

It's a warm spring night, and as they step out between two caravans, there's the smell of a crackling bonfires. Someone seems to be cooking sausages on one of them. A ragged little girl of about four with bare feet skips past them.

"Hallo Ringmaster!"

Carlotta greets the little girl, then leads Malcolm on to where her caravan is.

A blonde toddler girl is playing barefoot in the grass with a monkey, while a young man in his early twenties sits smoking on the caravan stairs. When he sees Carlotta, he hurriedly extinguishes the cigarette.

"Rinmatta!" Molly greets her mother, leaving the monkey and running over. Carlotta scoops her up in a hug.

"Dr Crowe, this is my daughter Molly, and my husband Will."

Will gets off the step to shake Malcolm's hand.

"Hi, Molly," Malcolm grins, then turns to Will and takes his hand.

"I'm Malcolm Crowe. Pleased to meet you."

The warmth in the air and the smell of food remind Malcolm of summer festivals, though this has more of a rural fair to it than he ever encountered back home in Philadelphia.

Molly giggles and twirls her golden curls around her finger.

Will gives Malcolm a firm military handshake, which doesn't quite hide his nervousness, or the slight tremor in his right hand as he withdraws it and puts it in his pocket.

"Will Francis. Nice to meet you too, Carlotta mentioned you."

"I'm going to put Molly to bed." Carlotta says. "Out of earshot, to give you guys some space."

Will nods. "Okay. Night Moll."

"Nini Will." Molly says, reaching towards him. He eventually notices and kisses her on the forehead.

"Knock on the door when you're done." Carlotta says to both of them, taking the little girl inside.

"All right." Will nods, slipping his hand into his pocket for the packet of cigarettes.

"Will..." Carlotta says, frowning. He puts them away again and sits down on a log as she goes inside, gesturing for Malcolm to join him.

"Not supposed to smoke in the middle of the camp." he says.

Edited 2013-04-16 21:26 (UTC)

Malcolm takes a spot on the log, trying to remember the last time he did that. Must have been a summer camp outside Philadelphia a long time ago.

"Danger of a fire if you do?" he asks casually.

Edited 2013-07-26 23:23 (UTC)

"Yeah, tents and dry grass." Will says. "Carlotta says if I do it it's hard to enforce among the others."

Malcolm nods and looks around. "How many of you are there?"

The smell of the sausages is amazing. And despite the strength of those bonfires, now Malcolm can see how carefully they've been set apart from the dry grass all around. He has a feeling if a stray spark got out, it wouldn't last long.

"Only fourteen at the moment, including me, and I'm only here two days a week." Will says. "We lost a lot of cast after last season."

He shifts uncomfortably, knowing that his own behaviour may have contributed to some of the departures.