Sorting things out. Or trying to.

[gonnafixthings]

John's back in the city for now, and wandering aimlessly-- which, in his case, means in the general direction of Anna's apartment, although he knows better than to actually try and visit her.

He's pretty sure he believes what Schreber's friends (okay, not his Schreber's friends, but whatever) are telling him. Pretty sure. It's incredibly fucked up

Comments

[sthenyaer]

It was the most amazing and terrifying thing that had ever happened to her. She was everywhere, everything, and she saw how connected it was- she knew what was and why this happened. What would happen because of it.

Breathing is a crude feeling, and she has to remember how to do it. "O-ow." she says, as some brick falls on her. She looks... realer. More there. But utterly small.

[gonnafixthings]

John doesn't usually-- yes, this is a regular occurence-- notice any more when there're bits of brick falling down around his head.

But he does hear the voice coming from the ground behind him, where there was definitely not someone when he walked past that spot a second ago. He stops in his tracks and turns around warily, with no idea what to expect--

-- but all he sees is Melinda, crumpled in the street with a handful of brick dust scattered over her.

Not recognizing her at first, John crouches down next to her. "Uh, Miss? Are you okay?"

[sthenyaer]

Melinda blinks slowly at him. She recignizes him, but it takes a bit. She's lying on the ground. After a moment of thinking of what tendons to move, and how much air she should put out of the lungs to say it, she says weakly "N-no." she takes a forced breath in.

She was back to being meat and chemicals.

"H-head hurts." the worlds are pronounced correctly, if not even more well pronounced. She has to think. Which is also strange. How did humans manage? How did SHE manage?

[gonnafixthings]

This girl's starting to look familar, but John can't place her. Maybe she came from that place-- dammit, he can't remember the name-- that really weird place where he found Schreber . . .

Stopping that train of thought, now.

"Oh, jeez." He scrubs a hand through his hair. "What-- do you need a doctor?"

Damn hospital's all the way on the other side of the city.

[sthenyaer]

Melinda slowly notices how familiar John looks. She is not amused. "N-no. Murdick? Is that you?" she croaks out. Ow. Ow. She shuts her eyes with some effort, and whines. "Oh, Jesus. F-feels different."

Her skin rippled against the cold ally- she didn't tell it to do that.

[gonnafixthings]

"Murdick--" John repeats, thoroughly confused for a second, and then he realizes where he's seen this girl before, and sits back on his heels. "You're-- wait a sec. Mel. Melissa." This is the girl who threatened to kill him for killing hurting the other Schreber.

Well, one of the girls who threatened him, anyway.

This girl, she's dangerous. Really dangerous. And she hates his guts. But she's just a kid, really, can't be more than thirteen or fourteen, and for Chrissake her skin is rippling. Something's very wrong with her.

He's tenser now he knows who she is, but he does his best to stay calm. "What do you need? What happened?"

[sthenyaer]

"M-Melinda." the effort of getting it out makes her wince. Moving was difficult. There were muscles, but she had to make them do it. She feared and wanted the time back when her body would move on it's own. It did that, once, didn't it? It must have. She remembers moving easily.

A stone near her turns into glass, then metal. Too much. Too much not enough.

"Mmmagic. Ll-let go of my human form." it's a lot of strain. Let go of one area, tighten another to move the tongue, move the teeth, do it all at the same time. "Wasn't ready. Tried to find y-your alt. Landed wrong. Found you."

Her eyes are unfocused. She feels small.

[gonnafixthings]

John flinches when the stone changes. Did he do that? It didn't look like something he did . . .

what the hell is this?

"Okay." He takes a deep breath. "What d'you need from me, then? Or do I need to get you to the other Murdoch?"

[sthenyaer]

"I d-don't know. If you could g-get me to a doorway, I can h-head to mmy re-realm." she says, trying to focus on John. Hate takes energy- she doesn't have enough of that at the moment, thanks.

[gonnafixthings]

John guesses she means "doorway" as in one that'll take her back to the Weird Place. Fortunately, that's only a few blocks away, but it only goes there sometimes-- sometimes it leads to what's actually behind it, i.e. the machinery under the city.

"There's one near here, but it doesn't always work." He takes a deep breath. "Can you stand up?"