[Excerpt from the Lusitania] 1: Guardian
This first excerpt is OOC from what I designed within the AU but happens to be incidentally very IC for cannon, so I'm not sure if that's good or bad. Just getting a feel for writing Al and Mattie.
Excerpts from the Lusitania
1: Guardian
"So what do you think of our 'temporary caretaker'?" Alfred plopped down on the side of his brother's bed, a toothbrush jutting out from his mouth.
"It's hard to say, we only met him this morning, Al," Matthew shrugged. He sat with his legs crossed on his bed leaning against the wall. "Why? What do you think about him?"
Alfred had a worried look on his face as he stopped mid-brushstroke at Matthew's question. He thought for a moment and hummed, stalling his answer.
"What are you doing in here with your toothbrush anyway? Or did you forget what the washroom's for?" Matthew only looked semi-annoyed, because in the end he knew brother would ignore his chiding and do it again soon enough. He waved a hand at him anyway, "Go to the washroom and finish brushing, I can wait!"
"Buh ah finahlly knoh wha ah wahnnah shay-"
"Don't talk with your mouth full like that, it's gross! Hurry up!" Matthew slid off his bed and dragged Alfred back down the hall where candlelight and an open door told of a room unused. He made one final push and Alfred stumbled inside as he turned and gave Matthew a smirk around the handle of his toothbrush. "Jeez, Al. You're such a doofus."
It wasn't long before he heard Alfred spit into the washbasin and laughed in the flickering light that washed over Matthew's shoulder at the door frame and into the hallway. Matthew just crossed his arms and leaned against the wood as he absently listened and waited for Alfred to finish.
"So, as I was saying," he began again after he had wiped his face with a towel, "I think I know what my impression of the dapper dandy is."
"Alfred! He's not a dandy. Mr. Kirkland is a kind man to take us in, at the least. A gentleman of honor at most." Matthew scowled at his brother and seemed to stand by the statement.
"All right, all right, Mattie! I didn't mean anything bad by it," he put his hands up in surrender, "I was just pointing out that he seemed to be dressed a little too fancy to only pick up a couple of snots like us."
"He wouldn't think that! He looked like he really wanted to help us, Al!" Matthew was starting to remember how even after everything that happened, even in the days of silence after disaster had struck for them, he was still his insufferable incorrigible sibling. "Don't talk like that to someone who offered his home to us!"
"I'll bet anything that he thought about it." Alfred sneered. "What's to stop a fancied up Brit from looking down on some ragtag Americans who won't even enter the war to save their skins? It might even make him look good to everyone being such a ph-philantro-what's-it like that." He scoffed despite his stutter.
"The word you're looking for is 'philanthropist', and judging by the his circumstances it seemed more like he was the only eligible candidate to take us in. You forget this is a community of sailors and fishermen. Most of them look like they couldn't handle the extra mouths to feed or would be ill guardians anyhow." Matthew felt calmer now as he assessed their situation and felt even a bit guilty that everyone looked to Mr. Kirkland to do the honorable thing, even the mayor.
"Ah, jeez." Alfred surprised for a moment as that fact sunk in and he scratched his head. "Is that how it was? I can't remember who all was there, so..."
"Yes, it was that way. I seem to remember someone too much like a stone in a pond to know what was going on. Lord only knows why he had enough 'fight or flight' to try to make a run for it." Alfred frowned at the reference and looked away begrudgingly.
"I don't see how pointing that out is telling of his infinite kindness," he grumbled.
Matthew sighed. He disliked when Alfred made more trouble for them than necessary, like the instance when they had knocked over their mother's flower vase in the hallway.
The two of them were frantic to retrieve all the pieces and try to find a way to put it back together. What they failed to remember at the time was they both were in their best Sunday clothes and the dirt and water from the shattered vase had ruined their white dress shirts and socks while they rushed to find some bonding glue. What's more, they had abandoned the debris that soaked up into the carpet. By the time they had found some glue in a kitchen drawer, their mother and father had already began their decent and found their mess at the bottom of the staircase along with their sons at the kitchen table dirty, frozen in place while they hovered over the broken pieces. Let's just say the switching they received made for quite the rigorous burn when they sat in the pews that day.
"Anyway, you can't blame me for that one, Matt, it all looked pretty suspicious when they started to gang up on us!" Alfred looked nervous as though he were remembering the massing of shadows over him again.
"It was a town meeting, you goof! A meeting about us, remember? Of course they would gather around us to see what was going on!" Matthew put a hand to his face. Why must I deal with this kid?, he questioned, Did I make some offense in life to have my brother become a painful reminder to repent?
"Like I said they were suspicious!" His brother squeezed his eyes shut like that proved it.
The brothers heard someone clear their throat and it echoed through the hallway. They turned toward the sound and started when they found the master of the house staring back at them from his bedroom door, sporting sleepy but stern eyes. 'Boys? It's rather late to have discussions in the hall.'
He took a few steps forward leaving the door ajar and affixed his housecoat around him. Alfred and Matthew were wide-eyed as they watched the blond man much taller than they shuffle over and give them a leveling look, one heavy eyebrow lifted in question. The boys weren't sure how much he'd heard but they felt that so long as they were under his stare any word could give it all away. He cocked his head to the side.
'You two look like the Kaiser stepped into room,' he said after a moment. As far as Alfred was concerned he could be, he didn't know the man from Adam much less a person he should rely on. Matthew only felt chagrin for their lack of discretion and wished his brother hadn't spouted a heap of garbage at this man's expense. 'I'm sorry to disappoint if you lads were expecting a show, I'm hardly someone hostile.' It didn't seem as though he knew the full meaning of the words as he laid them out but rather meant them as a playful tease.
'Oh, and your mouth's open.'
Alfred jumped as his large rough looking hand nudged the boy's jaw to close. The brother looked even more stunned as he clapped his own hand to the area shoulders tense. The man's jade eyes moved between the couple of statues called Alfred and Matthew, his gaze reflective. He took a step between them and they separated in an instant to opposite sides of the hall so he could pass. He never looked back at them as his mouth formed at wry smile but he spoke with a softness he hoped was intent in his voice.
'Thought I'd pop into the kitchen for a spot of tea,' he said to the boys behind him, 'If you'd like anything before bed, we should make it quick, lest the missus stirs to scold us.'
The words were still new in the air as made his way down the staircase and the man turned them around in his mind, wondered if his brief words to them had made a difference at all. Silence was still prevalent in the air by the time he'd made it to bottom of the stairs and lit a gas lamp in the kitchen. Catching himself in the middle of a wistful sigh, he didn't need much more of an answer than two sets of quiet feet padding down to meet him at the bottom of the stairs.
END SCENE
Excerpts from the Lusitania
1: Guardian
"So what do you think of our 'temporary caretaker'?" Alfred plopped down on the side of his brother's bed, a toothbrush jutting out from his mouth.
"It's hard to say, we only met him this morning, Al," Matthew shrugged. He sat with his legs crossed on his bed leaning against the wall. "Why? What do you think about him?"
Alfred had a worried look on his face as he stopped mid-brushstroke at Matthew's question. He thought for a moment and hummed, stalling his answer.
"What are you doing in here with your toothbrush anyway? Or did you forget what the washroom's for?" Matthew only looked semi-annoyed, because in the end he knew brother would ignore his chiding and do it again soon enough. He waved a hand at him anyway, "Go to the washroom and finish brushing, I can wait!"
"Buh ah finahlly knoh wha ah wahnnah shay-"
"Don't talk with your mouth full like that, it's gross! Hurry up!" Matthew slid off his bed and dragged Alfred back down the hall where candlelight and an open door told of a room unused. He made one final push and Alfred stumbled inside as he turned and gave Matthew a smirk around the handle of his toothbrush. "Jeez, Al. You're such a doofus."
It wasn't long before he heard Alfred spit into the washbasin and laughed in the flickering light that washed over Matthew's shoulder at the door frame and into the hallway. Matthew just crossed his arms and leaned against the wood as he absently listened and waited for Alfred to finish.
"So, as I was saying," he began again after he had wiped his face with a towel, "I think I know what my impression of the dapper dandy is."
"Alfred! He's not a dandy. Mr. Kirkland is a kind man to take us in, at the least. A gentleman of honor at most." Matthew scowled at his brother and seemed to stand by the statement.
"All right, all right, Mattie! I didn't mean anything bad by it," he put his hands up in surrender, "I was just pointing out that he seemed to be dressed a little too fancy to only pick up a couple of snots like us."
"He wouldn't think that! He looked like he really wanted to help us, Al!" Matthew was starting to remember how even after everything that happened, even in the days of silence after disaster had struck for them, he was still his insufferable incorrigible sibling. "Don't talk like that to someone who offered his home to us!"
"I'll bet anything that he thought about it." Alfred sneered. "What's to stop a fancied up Brit from looking down on some ragtag Americans who won't even enter the war to save their skins? It might even make him look good to everyone being such a ph-philantro-what's-it like that." He scoffed despite his stutter.
"The word you're looking for is 'philanthropist', and judging by the his circumstances it seemed more like he was the only eligible candidate to take us in. You forget this is a community of sailors and fishermen. Most of them look like they couldn't handle the extra mouths to feed or would be ill guardians anyhow." Matthew felt calmer now as he assessed their situation and felt even a bit guilty that everyone looked to Mr. Kirkland to do the honorable thing, even the mayor.
"Ah, jeez." Alfred surprised for a moment as that fact sunk in and he scratched his head. "Is that how it was? I can't remember who all was there, so..."
"Yes, it was that way. I seem to remember someone too much like a stone in a pond to know what was going on. Lord only knows why he had enough 'fight or flight' to try to make a run for it." Alfred frowned at the reference and looked away begrudgingly.
"I don't see how pointing that out is telling of his infinite kindness," he grumbled.
Matthew sighed. He disliked when Alfred made more trouble for them than necessary, like the instance when they had knocked over their mother's flower vase in the hallway.
The two of them were frantic to retrieve all the pieces and try to find a way to put it back together. What they failed to remember at the time was they both were in their best Sunday clothes and the dirt and water from the shattered vase had ruined their white dress shirts and socks while they rushed to find some bonding glue. What's more, they had abandoned the debris that soaked up into the carpet. By the time they had found some glue in a kitchen drawer, their mother and father had already began their decent and found their mess at the bottom of the staircase along with their sons at the kitchen table dirty, frozen in place while they hovered over the broken pieces. Let's just say the switching they received made for quite the rigorous burn when they sat in the pews that day.
"Anyway, you can't blame me for that one, Matt, it all looked pretty suspicious when they started to gang up on us!" Alfred looked nervous as though he were remembering the massing of shadows over him again.
"It was a town meeting, you goof! A meeting about us, remember? Of course they would gather around us to see what was going on!" Matthew put a hand to his face. Why must I deal with this kid?, he questioned, Did I make some offense in life to have my brother become a painful reminder to repent?
"Like I said they were suspicious!" His brother squeezed his eyes shut like that proved it.
The brothers heard someone clear their throat and it echoed through the hallway. They turned toward the sound and started when they found the master of the house staring back at them from his bedroom door, sporting sleepy but stern eyes. 'Boys? It's rather late to have discussions in the hall.'
He took a few steps forward leaving the door ajar and affixed his housecoat around him. Alfred and Matthew were wide-eyed as they watched the blond man much taller than they shuffle over and give them a leveling look, one heavy eyebrow lifted in question. The boys weren't sure how much he'd heard but they felt that so long as they were under his stare any word could give it all away. He cocked his head to the side.
'You two look like the Kaiser stepped into room,' he said after a moment. As far as Alfred was concerned he could be, he didn't know the man from Adam much less a person he should rely on. Matthew only felt chagrin for their lack of discretion and wished his brother hadn't spouted a heap of garbage at this man's expense. 'I'm sorry to disappoint if you lads were expecting a show, I'm hardly someone hostile.' It didn't seem as though he knew the full meaning of the words as he laid them out but rather meant them as a playful tease.
'Oh, and your mouth's open.'
Alfred jumped as his large rough looking hand nudged the boy's jaw to close. The brother looked even more stunned as he clapped his own hand to the area shoulders tense. The man's jade eyes moved between the couple of statues called Alfred and Matthew, his gaze reflective. He took a step between them and they separated in an instant to opposite sides of the hall so he could pass. He never looked back at them as his mouth formed at wry smile but he spoke with a softness he hoped was intent in his voice.
'Thought I'd pop into the kitchen for a spot of tea,' he said to the boys behind him, 'If you'd like anything before bed, we should make it quick, lest the missus stirs to scold us.'
The words were still new in the air as made his way down the staircase and the man turned them around in his mind, wondered if his brief words to them had made a difference at all. Silence was still prevalent in the air by the time he'd made it to bottom of the stairs and lit a gas lamp in the kitchen. Catching himself in the middle of a wistful sigh, he didn't need much more of an answer than two sets of quiet feet padding down to meet him at the bottom of the stairs.
END SCENE