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[It was easy to say that John was new to all of this strangeness. It was a fact, and yet, that bit of logic had done very little to ease his mind in regards to what all this entailed. He is, after all, a man of science, but he's also incredibly excitable - and under a lot of stress due to upcoming classes beginning soon. It's his first entry on this mysterious Network, and he's sitting on a sofa in a rather mundane looking living room - aside from the papers, random gadgets, and unfinished looking projects scattered about. An impressive stack of quantum textbooks rests near his knee, which is fluttering up and down rapidly in an anxious movement.

He leans forward, peering over the rim of his glasses, and frowns a little.]

I sort of like this idea of this Network thing. It's all very...clandestine, hush hush, bonding experience, speaking out into the void of the internet in the hopes someone hears you and has something important to say. I like it, it's clever - even if it does leave you feeling a bit exposed. Internet's not really all that secure, is it? Anything can end up on the dark web for the right price...

Anyway. It's all well and good, and I'm getting used to this idea of Different, even if it is bloody mad.

What I want to know is why my entire research plan decided today that it wanted to be delightfully lemon flavored? [He holds up a cheerful looking bowl of lemon sherbet, which he sort of wrinkles his nose.] Honestly. It could have at least had the courtesy of being banana flavored if it's going to inconvenience me.

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It's nice to meet you, Dr. Lan! I'm Dr. John Smith. John works just fine for me - not sure what my, well, Other Self is called yet, but I'd love to get talking about ancient history - any sort. All sorts!

[He grins warmly, and settles in his seat.] Oh no no, not literally that - well, I suppose it sort of feels like we're living in a science fiction setting, don't it? But no, that's not what I do. It works like - so okay.

[John adjusts his glasses and sits forward, clearly getting into teaching mode, but he's smiling. He's not going to talk down to Doctor Lan; they're both academics in different fields, after all!]

Light takes time to travel long distances, just like a car takes time to travel long distances. It takes sunlight eight minutes and twenty seconds to reach the Earth, so we are always seeing the sun as it was about eight and a half minutes in the past. Now think about the light of the farthest observable star - that would be a star we call Icarus - it has a long science-y name, but I'll spare you the details. That star is five billion light years from Earth, meaning that it takes five billion years for its light to reach the Hubble Telescope. That means, we are picking up light that was first transmitted five billion years ago! Brilliant, isn't it? [He looks utterly delighted.] It means that we're able to observe stars and galaxies as they were closer to the time of the Big Bang, which can give us insight into how things were during the formative years - or what we speculate were the formative years - of the universe! It's entirely likely that the actual star of Icarus burned out eons ago, and its light is still transmitting to us here from all the way over there in another galaxy!

[It takes a minute for John's delight in his star conversation to realize what Dr. Lan just had just said. He pauses, and lets out a breath.]

Hold on, did you say, 'portal to another world'? Joined you on an - You went on a full blown expedition to another world, possibly another planet, and I missed it! I've only been aware for a week and a half!

You want to know about our other memories?

Weeeelll - I'm not wanting to intrude. I'm just curious. I only have the one and I didn't get a chance to share at the support group - showed up a bit late, had some work thing beforehand.

Maybe some other day.

Yeaaah.

[John nods in agreement, slowly.]

Not really a...talk over the Network sort of conversation, I think.

No. I don't talk about either of my lives with strangers. One is personal and I'm still living it and enough people judge me on sight as is. The other comes with trigger warnings and I'm not up for navigating those right now.

But bananas are a prefectly safe subject.

[Jack feels that shiver of fear the name Daleks brings up. And John's Memory makes him feel oddly sad, but he doesn't know why. This is all so confusing and both hopeful and sad.] I think...I think it would be a good idea if we talked.

[John takes a moment to breathe, and glances at his phone to check the time. He's met a number of Different now, but the strangeness that Jack remembers a Rose - a common name, still, he knew - and had a subtle reaction to the Daleks fills him with more curiosity - and urgency - than dread.]

I know it's late, but we're in the City That Never Sleeps. [He offers Jack a reassuring smile, despite it all.] Are you in Manhattan? I can bike or take the tube to wherever you are, or we could meet somewhere? Don't have a car.

Oh. Right. Sorry, that was rude of me.

[He looks properly chastised for a moment, then smiles, a bit awkwardly.]

Makes perfect sense. You're right about bananas though. Or lemons, as the case may be - say. How long will I have to look at my research plan melting before it decides to return to its usual state? I have to say, the transmutation of matter business is all very...well, not by the Book.

I'm not offended.

I don't know how long it takes. Every time it happened to me, it stayed ice cream for different lengths of time. Except the one I smashed. That came back right away. But this thing was wrecked.

I just finished rehearsal...there is a coffee shop down the block from the theatre in Manhattan.

[Jack sends the address of the shop to John's device.]

Give me 20 minutes to get changed and I'll meet you there.

[It's actually quite nice to meet a Different who is also a professor]

It's a pleasure to meet you, Dr. John Smith.

[He waited and listened, completely fascinated by his knowledge and research. Not once he interrupted him, and having read the materials of astrophysics himself, he knew all of this science to be true]

Indeed, it's brilliant. Amazing how light works in the universe and how long it takes for time to work in space.

[At his question, he brought up his notes]

About that, it happened around the June solstice a few months ago when it happened. A portal to another world appeared, and I joined a team of Different to explore it. The world's name is Krajina Božstiev. Hard to pronounce for me, but it seems to reflect an ancient Eastern Europe around 1600s to 1700s era.

I think the portal is still there. Near the Bureau Building, in Collect Pond Park, so if you want to visit, I can take you there and you can see for yourself.

Oh, God, you look like them too.

I'm being tested, I just know it.

Sorry, what?

[John has the grace to look a little confused, albeit in a somewhat animated fashion. He tilts his head to the side, an eyebrow raising in distinct uncertainty.]

Look like who? You know, you're not the first person to have a reaction like that to me, and I can't figure out why. Do I have doppelgangers out there, or something? [He grins a bit, pleasantly, in amusement.] The odds of that are nearly astronomical, you know!

Krajina Božstiev? Slovak...or Polish?

[John is familiar with the sounds of some languages - he had students from countries all over the world, and he'd had classmates when he himself had been a student. He couldn't translate it, though - which vaguely frustrates him for reasons he can't explain. Still, he's gotten a pencil out and he's writing it down as best he can spell it for looking up later. He continues to write as Lan speaks, eager to learn.]

So it's a portal through time and space? Brilliant! I mean, I wouldn't have really believed you two weeks ago, but after my Memory event, I'm more inclined to believe the outlandish. If science has taught me anything, it's that we don't actually know very much at all.

[He flashes Lan a friendly little smile, his eyes bright.]

I would love for you to show me! I'd love to explore it - a sort of science experiment where I'm the test subject. What sort of notes did your expedition take?

Oh come on. Who the hell are you now?

Please tell me your father isn't Alastair because if he is I may go strangle him myself.

[he had enough bloody family to deal with. It could be they weren't related at all, but one look at that face reminded him sort of a picture taken from sixth form. Except he was too bloody chipper.]

Oh. Oh wow, they weren't kidding!

[John leans in, looking deeply fascinated, and thoughtful. He narrows his eyes a little, peering over the edge of his glasses.]

Don't know who my father was, so I can't really say! Was born in London, in 1985, though! I'm John - and...blimey, this really is amazing. Sorry, it's just - [He laughs a little, pleased and bewildered all at once.]

The odds of having a doppelganger is one in 135, but this! Meeting one's doppelganger face to face is one in a trillion! That's brilliant, and I wonder if this whole Different bit has something to do with it. What's your name?

Dopple-- Doppleganger? What do you think this is? Some kind of bizarre science experiment? If anyone is the doppleganger it's you. We came first. You're just the ruddy little upstart.

No idea who your father is? None at all? Where were you born?

[John carries on unfettered, not at all insulted by the gruff response. He's still inordinately pleased about it, and curious.]

Well, technically, both of us would be dopplelgangers of the other, regardless of who came first. It's sort of a two way street - but no, I wouldn't call this a science experiment. More like a research study than an experiment. Sorry, I'm a bit of a scientist. Anyway!

London. I was born at the Royal Free Hospital in London, December 2, 1985. Mother gave me up, I was a ward of the state until I aged out at 18. Eh, I tried looking for them both, but I didn't have any records to go on - there was no official paperwork or anything like that. S'why I have such a generic name.

It's all fine, though.

[The pleasant smile masks a lot, but he'll never let on, especially to a stranger.]

Don't correct me, you know what I meant. You don't just greet a perfect stranger and say: Oh, your face is like mine, we must be science...twins. [he shook his head. Took in that life story which he didn't expect to get and filed it away for further use]

It's not fine. None of this is fine. Your mind will be completely warped until you don't even know what's real anymore. Get out. Get away. Go home. Anywhere but here.

Er. This is home?

[He gestures sort of vaguely at the small apartment he calls home, and his cheerful expression fades to one far more serious.]

Look. I understand, it's absolutely strange. Nothing has made sense since I had my first Memory a week and a half ago, and plenty of you out there have been going through this for a lot longer than me. But from what I understand, even if I were to just quit my job and return to London, this wouldn't stop. They told me as such - nothing can stop these Memories from happening. They're coming, and that's that. I'm not going to lie, it's not comforting at all - my first memory was traumatic. But what choice do I have? I'm not going to sit back and cower, or cry about it.

[He takes a breath; the difference between the manic and the serious is very stark, but he doesn't look severe or unkind.]

Like I said. I'm a scientist. I want to understand. I need to understand, to try and make sense of it all. And maybe I can help others by learning all I can. I mean, I'm an astrophysicist. I'm not the sort of doctor that's useful to people, usually. But maybe I could be.

Just what we need, another bloody doctor. [he rubbed his face] Apparently the only doctors that exist either look like me or a mad sheep farmer version of Fell. I'm beginning to think they have a fetish.

[he really didn't want to dwell on that]

Just remember whatever you do that you're studying people alright? Not just little sums on a board or star charts or whatever it is that astrophysicists study. If you can discover things, great, but it's others that are suffering right along beside you.

[and then...]

Did you see the portal to the other world then?

I've never forgotten that I'm curious about people. People are marvelous, and I'd like to think maybe, some day, some of my studies in astrophysics just might help people understand their place in this universe. But that's a bit philosophical right now. What I mean is - studying this phenomenon, might help all of us to come to understand that suffering. I'm not just out here doing it for a lark. Sort of like...interviewing people, sharing in a sort of shared trauma. If any of my work can help ease people, comfort them, then I'll be satisfied.

I don't want to hurt anyone.

[The mention of the portal causes him to brighten a bit, and the smile returns to his face, just a little.]

Not seen it yet, but Dr. Lan told me about it. I'm very interested to study that too - it's more in line with what I'd normally study, at least. Did you get to go? Oh, right - didn't get your name before.

[he didn't like it. Not really. It was too skin crawlingly sincere. Too open. Too honest. It was like the universe decided to take three gos at them before it finally settled on one it liked. Or maybe like Anthony if he wasn't a "demon".]

If you're actually an angel I swear to Christ. [muttered to himself and not necessarily meant to be heard. He sighs and runs a hand through his hair.]

Crowley. My cousin Anthony is here too and he looks like us except ginger. You can call him a doppleganger all you like. He might enjoy it.

I haven't gone. I don't plan to go. But if you need help let me know.

[Something about that offer for help brought that bright smile down to a warm, sincere one. Aha. There it was. A bit of truth beyond that gruff exterior. He didn't often meet people who stuck around, but he liked to think that there was something at least decent in most of them. It's more difficult at times, true, but even so.]

No - uh. No, I don't think angels have anything to do with this. There were aliens though. Or robots. Maybe. Something like robot aliens? Alien robots? Anyway.

Nice to meet you, Crowley. You can just call me 'John'. Nothing fancy here. There's...a third one of us? That's...

[John sits back on his battered old sofa, and considers this for a moment. His mind is moving rapidly over the possibilities.] It's almost unheard of, really - though I suppose if he's ginger then it's not entirely the same as the two of us. Still! He's also Different?

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