#87

Doctor Kai has, through the night, recovered from his ugly electrocution. Jacob has returned to the front steps of McGee Manor, which is currently patrolling this city. The Doctor doesn't know what to look for first, but he's observed several battles involving surviving soldiers and Ultramarine Guards, fighting desperately against the mutants, the medics, and the Crimsons. They're losing, and soon the Ultramarines at least will be disbanded by death. They had served the Empire since the beginning; now they're all traitors, or marked as such.

Jacob is keeping a lookout, but for what, he doesn't know. He just woke up, having actually slept in one of the surprisingly comfortable bedrooms. (He's told it once belonged to Snaps McGee's maid, Mary, who was a greater fighter than his entire adventurer's group.) He doesn't like sleeping in The House, especially since he knows what lurks in its darker corners, but he still has to do it.

Down below, he sees that there are some figures. They aren't Guards, soldiers, cyborgs, or mutants—they seem to be totally normal people. Maybe some of the people who once lived in this city? (Where did those people all go, anyway?) He guesses it would be a good idea to point these guys out to the Doctor.

“We've got some people down there. They're, uh, ordinary looking.”

“Really?” He comes over, and glances down. “Curious! Do you suppose we should try to bring them aboard?”

On the ground, You is still looking over The House. He senses that those letters are capitalized, incidentally, but that doesn't unnerve him. “Do you suppose the Imperials would try to use something like that?”

Susie shrugs. “It's seen us already. If it was going to kill us, You'd think it would've by now.”

Mark doesn't say anything. This seems familiar to him, but it's not a good familiarity. In fact, it sort of fills him with hate. But he, too, doesn't get the impression it's an Imperial structure.

Up above, a decision is made, and The House begins to descend. It lands in the street not far from the four travelers, with almost total silence.

“Um!” a hesitant voice calls out. “Hi!”

Jacob approaches them.

The most awkward pause in all of Dieselworld ensues. Provided, this is a natural byproduct of prolonged first contact between people of other universes; at least, when said contactees are teenagers. Then again, this is sort of true of all teenage contact. It may not even be a Multiversal thing at all. I mean, You was pretty okay with hanging out with Madame Levingt, and she's probably from a whole bunch of universes.

The fact of the matter is that this awkward pause lasts for a solid three minutes, which, to younger folks, feels more like three hours. The only people who don't care are Doctor Kai, who is hanging out in the background, and Klaus, who literally can give no shits about anything ever, as we've seen time and time again.

But when the awkwardness breaks, there's a sense of catharsis between the two groups. You doesn't feel the same sort of pseudo-telepathic angst and stupidity that he senses in Mark. Susie, meanwhile, feels the same type of kinship that she feels in Mark. It's Susie, then, having a stronger reaction, who breaks the silence.

“Hi!” There's another pause, but it feels, and happens to be, much shorter. “What's your name?”

“Um. I'm Jacob, Jacob Berkley. Who are you?”

“Susie Sanford. These guys are Mark, Klaus, and You.”

“You?”

“Yes. Your name is You.”

“My name is not You. It's Jacob.”

“No. I'm saying Your...” She points to You. “...name is You.”

“Wait. Are you having trouble calling You You?” He blinks then, and chokes on his words. “I mean H. I. M. Are you having trouble calling H.I.M. You?” But he realizes that this is the case, and sighs, putting his face in his hand.

“I'm...sorry?” You says then, trying to appeal to the stranger.

Jacob snickers, his face still buried.

“So, You can call Yourself 'I', then? That doesn't seem fair.”

“Yeah, but think of how stupid it would be if I had to say, 'You had to call Yourself You', or something. That would be impossible.”

“I have to admit that would be a pretty stupid linguistic snare,” Susie says.

Jacob briefly considers that Amos would probably do something like that. Mess with pronouns for an entire novel-length story session. He would definitely enjoy confusing people by doing such a thing, especially with limiting the available context to prepare the reader. What a jerk.

“Well, um.” Mark is the one to speak now. “Care to explain the whole floating House thing?”

Doctor Kai comes forward then. “I am Doctor Kai!” he proclaims loudly. He suddenly has an audience, Jacob realizes, and such a revelation makes him feel irked. If anything, because now the awkwardness is back. “I can most certainly explain the nature of McGee Manor to you.” And he does, at great length, which strikes the group as greatly fascinating. Perhaps none are as fascinated as Mark.

Mark remembers what he's learned of the Multiverse, and knows on some scrambled level the nature of The House. But he says nothing; all of the resulting anger he begins to feel against Doctor Kai, and by extension, Jacob, remains internal. Susie and You have already learned about the Multiverse, but the fact that they now know that Jacob actually comes from another world fascinates them.

And so begins the process of bonding. The niceties of catching up on each others' plotlines are merely opening formalities before true conversation can begin. You is intrigued to hear about Jacob's adventures, but is saddened to find out that his own quest wasn't nearly as successful as You's. Susie also has regrets about this, but takes solace in knowing that Jacob is a writer on the side of being an artist, mostly for the purposes of his comic books. The two find out that certain books exist on both sides of the Multiversal barrier, and they begin discussing those at once. Unlike how she was around Mark, however, she provides context to You, so You can join in too. Two bodies of work that come up are those of Walter Gibson and Dave Stevens; the fact that these works are adventure stories intrigues You, while the simple shared enjoyment links Susie and Jacob.

But all this, including and especially the involvement of You, causes Mark to start sulking in the background, though in a sort of innocent way. More innocent than it is normally for him, at least.

Overall, the three who are talking don't have too many shared interests, being quite literally from very different worlds. But they still get to have that sort of connection that friends have, that doesn't necessarily arise from liking the same things; it's the sort of comfort than none of them have had in the face of having been threatened with death, torture, and general hardship. Though it's a faint feeling for now, there's a shared sense of warmth between all of them that they can reside in after feeling cold for a very, very long time. And it is a sense of need, but that isn't necessarily bad; for, after all, people just naturally need things, like rest after a long journey.

Klaus and Doctor Kai approach each other, then. They do not have this warmth, but the Doctor does smile. “It's been a long time, brother.”

Silence.

“You've been Guiding this boy, haven't you? I can feel it. That was what you chose to do at the beginning.”

Silence.

“Bah.” Kai waves his hand at the fat man, who doesn't react. “Your role is important, whether you speak to me or not. I sense you'll be there for us, at the end, in the fight against Father.”

Silence.

“Very well.” The Doctor remembers then that Klaus was the most annoying of his brothers to commune with. But then again, he recalls something about himself; that his name is also Kay, and thus he embodies what makes his siblings Fathers and Sons. So he's really like Klaus' Uncle, more than anything else. And so if this silent German tries something—like expressing loyalty towards the enemy, perhaps—he will be easily able to destroy him. Kay doesn't know about the strong trust that You has towards Klaus, however, and if he could see that—or see how Klaus sees You—then he would perhaps be touched.

The Doctor then goes back to what he's been doing for awhile—observing Jacob. At this, he grins.

It wasn't long ago that Jacob had a sense of catharsis; now he's spread it to the others. He realizes this, and considers it privately to be his gift from another world.

Before he lambasts himself for such cheesiness, of course.