25 Foods #13: Honey
This was the first of these prompts to be explicitly Secundus-based. I had a dual inspiration for this prompt. The first was Victor feeling a touch dissatisfied with his role in his family. Thanks to Secundus being rather more progressive than the real England was at the time, women were allowed more freedoms and more job opportunities, meaning that in this version of the Van Dort/Liddells, Alice is actually the primary breadwinner with her job at the hat shop and killing monsters. Victor's more of a house husband, and while he's mostly content -- well, we cover that in the fic. The second was simply the image of honey being licked off someone. XD What can I say -- sometimes, I be a perv.
Victor had thought this would be a whole lot easier.
When he had talked to Alice’s uncle about marrying her, his financial situation had been thrown into stark relief. He’d never really had to worry about money before. His parents had been comfortably middle class by the time he was born, and William had rapidly brought them all the way up to honestly rich. They’d had a cavernous house, a legion of servants, and coffers full to bursting. He’d never wanted for any material things. And even after he’d been accidentally abducted away from all that by Doc, he still hadn’t thought much about money. His job with Doc and Marty had included a roof over his head, all his meals, and plenty of free time to do as he wished – everything he could really ask for.
But the instant he’d started thinking about marriage, everything had changed. Suddenly, he was very much aware of what he didn’t have. The salary he got from Doc wasn’t enough to support a family. And Alice could hardly move into the flat with them – there was barely enough room for three. His employment prospects in more normal, better-paying jobs weren’t good, considering his – condition. And as for the Van Dort fortune he had been going to inherit – well, Victor wasn’t sure where it was going, but it certainly wasn’t going to him anymore. Just like that, he was poor.
Such concerns hadn’t stopped him from actually marrying Alice. The Liddells had been very understanding, and willing to help the young couple. They’d helped them buy a house as a wedding present, and offered them a monthly allowance to help with expenses. Doc still paid him whenever he helped out at the shop (which was considerably less than before – not that Victor didn’t enjoy working there, he just had his own experiments to tend to now). And Alice still had her job at Richard’s hat shop, which kept them going from month to month. Victor was very grateful for all the help, to be sure, but it still bothered him a little. He had no objections to Alice working – he knew she liked being productive, and besides, without her working at the hat shop, they might have never met. But he had also been raised to believe a man provided for his household. He didn’t want his wife to have to provide all their income – and he certainly didn’t want to live on the generosity of her aunt and uncle for the rest of their lives. He wanted to be useful.
Then, one day, while observing a bees’ nest, he’d suddenly had what he thought was a brilliant idea. He saved up some money and bought a beehive. He tended it carefully, making sure the bees had everything they needed to thrive. And when they had produced enough jars of honey, he’d taken to the streets to sell it.
Unfortunately, his hopes of making a sort of business out of selling honey were rather quickly dashed. Even in a city like Secundus, Regular people were very wary of buying anything from a Touched. Especially anything edible. Victor had assured people he’d done nothing to alter the honey or the bees who made it (and that had been hard, the ideas had sparked in his head and he’d broken quite a few quills in trying to keep them on paper and not letting them escape no matter how his fingers itched), but it made no difference. He managed to sell a little to a sympathetic grocer, but he ended up slinking home with the vast majority of his jars and not a lot of pride.
Then Alice found him, moping in his greenhouse lab. She listened to his complaints and fears, about how he felt he wasn’t doing right by her. She comforted him afterwards, reassuring him that she didn’t think he was useless in the slightest, and that she was sure he would stumble upon something that everyone would have to have. Listening to her, realizing just how much she loved him, Victor felt some of his hope return.
It definitely helped that they discovered a delicious new use for honey shortly afterward.
When he had talked to Alice’s uncle about marrying her, his financial situation had been thrown into stark relief. He’d never really had to worry about money before. His parents had been comfortably middle class by the time he was born, and William had rapidly brought them all the way up to honestly rich. They’d had a cavernous house, a legion of servants, and coffers full to bursting. He’d never wanted for any material things. And even after he’d been accidentally abducted away from all that by Doc, he still hadn’t thought much about money. His job with Doc and Marty had included a roof over his head, all his meals, and plenty of free time to do as he wished – everything he could really ask for.
But the instant he’d started thinking about marriage, everything had changed. Suddenly, he was very much aware of what he didn’t have. The salary he got from Doc wasn’t enough to support a family. And Alice could hardly move into the flat with them – there was barely enough room for three. His employment prospects in more normal, better-paying jobs weren’t good, considering his – condition. And as for the Van Dort fortune he had been going to inherit – well, Victor wasn’t sure where it was going, but it certainly wasn’t going to him anymore. Just like that, he was poor.
Such concerns hadn’t stopped him from actually marrying Alice. The Liddells had been very understanding, and willing to help the young couple. They’d helped them buy a house as a wedding present, and offered them a monthly allowance to help with expenses. Doc still paid him whenever he helped out at the shop (which was considerably less than before – not that Victor didn’t enjoy working there, he just had his own experiments to tend to now). And Alice still had her job at Richard’s hat shop, which kept them going from month to month. Victor was very grateful for all the help, to be sure, but it still bothered him a little. He had no objections to Alice working – he knew she liked being productive, and besides, without her working at the hat shop, they might have never met. But he had also been raised to believe a man provided for his household. He didn’t want his wife to have to provide all their income – and he certainly didn’t want to live on the generosity of her aunt and uncle for the rest of their lives. He wanted to be useful.
Then, one day, while observing a bees’ nest, he’d suddenly had what he thought was a brilliant idea. He saved up some money and bought a beehive. He tended it carefully, making sure the bees had everything they needed to thrive. And when they had produced enough jars of honey, he’d taken to the streets to sell it.
Unfortunately, his hopes of making a sort of business out of selling honey were rather quickly dashed. Even in a city like Secundus, Regular people were very wary of buying anything from a Touched. Especially anything edible. Victor had assured people he’d done nothing to alter the honey or the bees who made it (and that had been hard, the ideas had sparked in his head and he’d broken quite a few quills in trying to keep them on paper and not letting them escape no matter how his fingers itched), but it made no difference. He managed to sell a little to a sympathetic grocer, but he ended up slinking home with the vast majority of his jars and not a lot of pride.
Then Alice found him, moping in his greenhouse lab. She listened to his complaints and fears, about how he felt he wasn’t doing right by her. She comforted him afterwards, reassuring him that she didn’t think he was useless in the slightest, and that she was sure he would stumble upon something that everyone would have to have. Listening to her, realizing just how much she loved him, Victor felt some of his hope return.
It definitely helped that they discovered a delicious new use for honey shortly afterward.