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
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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...
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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.
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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. ;_;))
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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."
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"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.
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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."
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...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."
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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.
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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.
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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."
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"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.
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