(Untitled)

[j_murdoch]

John is watching the gate to the Nexus, expecting to see Schreber bringing plants for the City any time. He has notably not been drinking as he wants to be able to help with the planting. He has, however, spent most of the day repairing the canal walls and is more than a little tired.

Comments

[dr_stranger]

Schreber barely has time to grasp what Melinda's telling him before they've teleported again.

This time he finds himself someplace that looks familiar: this is still the Nexus, but the gate in front of him leads into a city he recognizes all too well. And John is waiting behind the gate.

Schreber tenses up automatically, arms folding tightly across his chest. He's almost sure this is the other John, because he looks far too calm to be worrying about having killed anyone, but it's a John. And on some level they're all the same person.

". . . John?" he calls out, voice the tiniest bit shaky.

[sthenyaer]

Melinda is standing next to him.

It's been a while since John last saw Melinda. She's leaner, thinner, more muscular. Maybe a little tanned. She has the sort of look in her eyes that means she's been up for a while, and if she's slept, it hasn't been for too long.

"Sir? Something bad happened. You're not going to like it." Why lie?

[j_murdoch]

This version of John is thinner than the one Schreber is used to, and has dark circles under his eyes. He looks like someone who is under constant stress--this should be a familiar look to the doctor. But he smiles at them both. "Melinda? Hello, I wasn't expecting--"

And then the doctor's appearance hits him, and he falters. It's the Schreber from his memories, the unscarred, unlimping man who pulled his child self out of a burning building. Except that wasn't real and never happened. What the hell is going on? "Doc...? What the fuck?"
He's so distracted by his friend's altered appearance that Melinda's subsequent words don't even register.

[dr_stranger]

"What?" Schreber startles, blinking at John in confusion for several seconds, and then remembers Courtney's glamour. "This isn't real," he explains quickly, and a little regretfully. "It's . . . only a disguise."

He's speaking a little more shortly than usual, but he's really nervous, and still has no idea how to deal with an alternate John.