Familiar faces.

[too_late4tom]

It's been a while since Tom has made his presence known to Schreber. He's been too busy watching the man and his strange family to actually bother talking to him. He's been trying to figure out who the weird guy with the bad skin is, or why none of them seem to leave the house for very far or long. The girlfriend, she actually drives to the city

Comments

[dr_schreber]

Schreber has actually come and gone some that Tom didn't see, pinpointing to the labs and back to tidy up and putter around and water the plants he keeps there. Sometimes he visits Harley to check in and sometimes Rat visits him but they're both busy with the garden in the city some. Most days Schreber stays home and drinks tea and works on paperwork for the city. He takes a walk once every morning and sometimes in the evening but he's always on the boardwalk and nodding to neighbors and never anywhere Tom might be able to get him alone.
Today he is staring at pages of population statistics and city maps and Rat's pages and pages of suggestions about the new someday school. He is very glad to have an interruption. Maybe it will be Harley or Melinda or somebody pleasant that will give him an excuse to take a break. Orwell croaks sleepily from the top of a bookcase and tucks his head deeper under his wing.
"Hello?" Schreber opens the door with a cheerful expectant smile. Oh. Hm. Okay, well that's awkward. His smile falters just a little and then turns politely worried and sympathetic. "Ah, How have... you been Mr. Mckinley. Is... anything wrong?" He always called so they could meet in the city before...

[too_late4tom]

Tom catches the change in expression. Too bad! He smiles a little, politely. "Hey, Doctor Schreber. Um, nothing's wrong, no. I just... well, I was around, and I thought I'd drop by. I know I haven't been good about keeping in touch these last few weeks. Your girlfriend said you were sick."

[dr_schreber]

Sick? Oh yeah. Oops. Definitely sick and not LOLed at all. "I think I'm mysef
lf again, now. Ah... would you like to come... inside? I can make tea, or we've got lem...onade..." He shuffles back a little to let Tom in and then remembers he is going to have to clean up his paperwork in a hurry. It's all over the coffee table in the livingroom but maybe he can get Tom to come to the kitchen.

[too_late4tom]

He steps inside and takes a look around, but doesn't seem about to make himself at home. Schreber can probably heard him towards the kitchen easily enough. "Lemonade sounds good. Thank you." Tom does not drink tea. Clearly, he is evil.

The place is clean, and nicely decorated. Schreber's girlfriend has good taste.

((I'm going into a staff meeting, so I won't be around for a while. ;_;))

[dr_schreber]

((Is okies! I was late replying! TBC.))

Oh well, Rat seems to like coffee better too but the three people that live here prefer tea thank you! The one not neat spot is the coffee table covered in papers but they go straight into the kitchen anyway. The raven on the bookshelf sits up when it hears another man's voice. That's not Rat or Thorn. Not that Orwell likes Thorn anyway. He watches them go into the kitchen and clicks his beak softly.
Schreber goes and gets lemonade and pours it into two glasses because maybe it's a good change from tea? "I was worried about you, but Sarah said... you called while I was indisposed. At least it sound...ed like it was you?" He limps back to the kitchen table with the glasses. "Please, have a seat."

[too_late4tom]

Tom does a double take as they pass by the living room. What the-- "Is that a raven?" he asks, pausing in the kitchen doorway and looking behind him. He's already noticed that there aren't really any animals in the city, and a raven is an unusual animal for a pet.

"That was me," he confirms, as he sits down at the table. "Must have been a pretty bad cold, that you couldn't get back to me." He keeps his tone neutral, even looking a little concerned. "I figured since Ume was arrested and sent upstate and all, things would have calmed down around here."

The kitchen smells wonderful. It's been a long time since he's been anywhere that's had a woman's touch.

[dr_schreber]

"That's Orwell, and there's a cat a...round somewhere, Clio. But she's Sarah's." He sits down and plays with the glass of lemonade in front of him. "I had no way to get... back to you. Things are settling down... now, though." He frowns a little at the table thinking of all the funerals. He still feels guilty for missing Willie's. "It's good to see... you comparatively safe and... sound though."

[too_late4tom]

"Yeah, well... thanks. I've been getting by," Tom replies, very distracted. A pet raven! And a-- what, a cat? When's the last time he saw an animal of any kind? He can't really remember.

As if on cue, Clio pads into the kitchen and meows in greeting. She's curious about the stranger who thankfully does not give off the weird vibes and approaches him, then rubs against his legs. Tom just stares, confused. "Uh... where'd you get Orwell, anyway? I've never heard of someone having a pet raven before."

[dr_schreber]

"A friend who lives out...side the city gave him to me. He had a whole... flock he raised by hand." Because of course you would need to do that out in the open country right? Anyway Jon does have a farmhouse and it's not a lie. "You deserve to do better then just getting... by. How can I help?" Because really he's not sure how long things will stay calm and Tom does need the truth eventually.

[too_late4tom]

"Outside the city," he repeats, still looking down at the cat. Schreber may be technically telling the truth, but all Tom hears is a lie. He's driven around the entire perimeter of the city, he knows there's no way out.

...unless there is a way out that he doesn't know about?

Tentatively, he gives the cat a pet, who purrs affectionately in return. Then he sits up and takes a deep breath. He had run this scenario through his head several times, and has practiced what he wants to say. "I've been thinking a lot about what you said, Doctor Schreber. And I think it's time I learn the truth. I think I'm ready to hear it. I need to hear it. If I'm going to get my life back on track, I need to know what's going on."

[dr_schreber]

((Everything is loading r e a l l y slow.))

Schreber isn't completely surprised by the question because he kind of had a feeling that was coming sooner or later. He doesn't have an answer prepared either. "Things are... not what most people want to think they are, but... we are safe. The city is in good hands. It... wasn't always." He draws a spiral in the condensation on the side of his glass without really thinking about it. "And there is an outside the city, but it's... not what you remember." He is going slow on purpose to watch Tom's reactions. He doesn't want to tell him too much or the wrong thing because he's not quite sure how stable he is.

[too_late4tom]

((Slow for me, too! I hope LJ doesn't go kaput. ;_;))

Tom nods while Schreber speaks, acting surprisingly calm. It's because he knows all this already. He holds back a snort when Schreber says the city is in good hands. And who is supposed to be the judge of that? he wants to ask, but holds his tongue.

"So there is a way out?" he confirms, looking a little surprised. "I tried leaving the city and... well, there isn't a way out by conventional means." He doesn't sound upset or worried the way Sarah did. In fact, he almost sounds detached, as if he were merely testing a hypothesis.

[dr_schreber]

((Noooooo!))

Schreber probably would not put it that way if he thought of himself as being in charge, but he trusts John.
"Not... by conventional means, no. But we get a lot of things for the city im...ported in. There's... ah... how can I explain. There's technology out...side the city so advanced it seems like magic..." Actually he could say the same thing for the Strangers' technology but! Not going there yet. "There are places like the outside world you re...member, but they're further away then just be...yond the city walls."

[too_late4tom]

Well, this is interesting. And surprisingly good news. "Advanced technology? Like what?" He frowns a little, thoughtful. "I was wondering how we got such large shipments when there didn't seem any way to bring them in. How do you get to the outside world, then?"

[dr_schreber]

"With a device called a PINpoint. You just... ah... you press the button and you're there. Well... you have to have coordinates..." He is not pulling his out to demonstrate because that seems dangerous. "It's possible to go all kinds... of places with them, places you can on...ly imagine."

[too_late4tom]

"A what? It just... teleports you there?" It sounds ridiculous, like something out of a sci-fi novel, but then again, aliens controlling an entire city also sounds rather ridiculous.

"Sounds nice," he adds, bending down to pet the cat again. "That you can go anywhere..." He freezes, mid-pet, and keeps his expression carefully neutral. "And... how many people can actually travel outside the city using this thing? Just you?"

It's an effort of will to keep his rage from showing. A way out of the city all this time. Another thing Schreber was keeping from him and everyone else. Another lie, another crime.

Clio mrows a little and runs out of the kitchen. She's not psychic, or even that smart, but she can sense Tom's displeasure.