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Keys are useful like that.

Not who she thought was following her, also not as terrifying as they once were: "Indeed they are. Surprised to see you back."

Took a while.

It did indeed. Worry not, however, our mutual angelic acquaintance is unlikely to return at any point in future.

Not much food where we were. Ate him.

"Doesn't there need to be some...thing to put the key into, as well?"

Not how she would have dealt with him, but effective, nonetheless, "I see. And have you found new employment since your return?

"On occasion, yes, but doors are something of a specialty of mine. Locked ones, however, are occasionally problematic."

Not yet. We will.

Indeed. There is generally a veritable overabundance of people wanting to dispose of each other.

They're dumb like that.

"People are the same wherever you go, or so they say." She gave a little shrug, "But, as I was saying, key, you're going to need one or you won't be likely to get far."

A small smile, "Things have changed around here since you've been away, and some doors that were open to you will now be closed, while others that were closed may now be open." She produced a key from the collection on a chatelaine at her hip, it was a simple brass thing, with an oval head and a square bit, not quite a skeleton key, but the sort used to open electrical utility boxes, "This one is yours, I believe."

What's it to?

"A great many doors, I suspect."

All got the same lock?

We would appreciate a more comprehensive explanation, if you would be so kind.

"Think of it as more of a passport, if you like. Identification, not that you need that I don't think, but an indication of where you've been and where you're going."

She waved a hand, "It's all symbolic anyway."

Sounds delightful. Symbolism is a wonderful thing.

Hitting things is better, Mr. Croup.

She offered the key over once more, "Well go on then." She wasn't going to openly agree that hitting things had a time and place of effectiveness, though she knew it was true.

*They take the key with horrible cheerful smiles and depart.*

I've been places where there were... no doors. That's a harder situation to get... out of.

She offered a hand, then, "Door. Lady Door, House of Arch. And I have to say there's no such thing as 'no doors' to the family Arch."

A pause, "Although that's not entirely true. Mostly true, certainly, but not completely. I'll say I've yet to find somewhere I couldn't find a door out of."

"Dr. Daniel Schreber." He smiles and shakes hands, and looks kind of apologetic. Or maybe that's just his face. One eye is scarred partway shut and he has a kind of hunched, nervous, apologetic look all over. He also seems to have trouble catching his breath.

"I wasn't sure if we were speaking in metaphors. I... suppose I did find a door out, of my previous si...tuation, eventually."

"It's good to meet you, doctor." She smiled, "And metaphorical doors are always easier to find than physical ones. That's just their nature, isn't it?"

Door, for her part, seemed like one of those people who would fit in wherever she was, just become part of the background noise. Which was odd, in looking at her, because she was wearing a hodge-podge of styles, though it suited her.

"Are they? It seemed to take such... a long time. But... our perception of time is -hah!-very fallible, isn't it?" He gives a twitchy little smile but he seems to be laughing at himself. He is hard to place, too, in a kind of threadbare brown suit that could be from any time in the twentieth century or even part of the twenty-first. He has thick wire-rimmed glasses that are a little bit archaic though.

She shrugged, "They've always seemed that way to me, but then again, doors are a specialty of my family."

A smile followed, "And you're right about time, no two people ever perceive it quite the same way." A soft laugh, shaking her head, "And especially around here." The Below was like that, time was somehow both more solid and less permanent there, as if it could be manipulated the same as rainwater, diverted and moved around where it suited one best.

"I'm... sorry, I'm not from around here. Your fa...mily makes doors?" He is not from the Below, but he is not from the normal Above either. Wherever he is from this place of tunnels and underground rivers and old forgotten architecture does not seem at all strange to him.

"We don't make them, really, but we're very good at finding them, and we can almost always open them." A smile, shaking her head, "You're not from around here, you don't know about the House of Arch. I'm what's called an Opener, we open doors."

Of course, they opened other things too, but she thought it best to just stick with the doors for ease of explanation.

"Nnno. No, I'm not." He thinks a minute before he actually says it out loud but this place and this person seem like they might accept the truth about his history. "But I used to know people who could make... them-or unmake them, as They wanted. If They didn't want... there to be a door out, there wouldn't be one to open." That's not even just a metaphor, but it kind of explains why he'd have felt stuck, before.

"There are other people with your kind... of abilities? Family?"

If she was surprised by the news that there were Certain People who could do away with doors completely, she didn't show it, just nodded at the question, "My family, yes, though they're dead now."

A pause, debating for a moment, "Besides me, of course." Better to keep the possibility of Ingress still being alive to herself for now. She wasn't entirely sure if she could trust Islington on that or not, but he, it, would have had no reason to lie, except in an attempt to stay alive, and Islington had been so certain of his own indestructibility... well, there was a chance, however small, that Ingress was still alive, somewhere.

Maybe Door could give his old bosses a run for their money. He wouldn't mind seeing that at all, but Dr. Schreber is just as glad they are gone for good.

He nods a little but he is definitely thinking about this. It does not sound quite like what John Murdoch can do, but knowing there are other people who have abilities to change the world around them in that way is surprising and fascinating, and just a little bit scary. He feels small and helpless in comparison. Fortunately Schreber is used to feeling small and helpless so that's okay. "I'm sorry, that they're dead. Your fam...ily, I mean. The people I knew who could change... doors into walls, and do other things, are gone... too, and I'm not sorry about that at all." He smiles just a little and it is not a friendly smile, thinking about Them.

She just inclined her head slightly at the apology, a sort of magnanimous acceptance, even a thank-you for the sympathy. But she smiled at the rest, her own smile just a little sharp at the edges, maybe a little predatory, because she understood not feeling sorry about that sort of loss.

"There are some people that every world is simply better off without." She agreed, "And there is no point in feeling sorry when they're gone."

"They put a lot of people in a maze, with... no doors. No way out. They had... Their reasons, but that's a hard thing to forgive." His smile is lopsided and not just because of the scarred eye.

"I would imagine it would be." She replied, brow creasing slightly as she thought about it. She doubted it had been like the Labyrinth, or like anything else that had fallen between the cracks and ended up Below, but she could just as easily imagine what might happen with an Opener -if there were one- who hadn't been raised with the family she'd had.

"Probably explains how you got here, though. Most people don't get here if they're not used to seeing things that oughtn't be there."

"I... was the only one who knew it... was a maze, and not just an ordin...ary city." He looks down, kind of guilty and still smiling in an apologetic kind of way. "So you could say that I am used... to seeing what nobody else sees. This... place seems more... honest, at least."

Her brow creased a little at the first, "That must have been terribly lonely."

The rest, however, got a small smile, and a nod, "It certainly is at that. Honest and as like as kill you as let you back to London Above. Sometimes it might be the same thing." She shook her head then, brow creasing a little, "There are ways back, if you want them, but they aren't easy, even now."

"I'm... not that interested in going back." He gives a guilty little grin. "The ones who ran the experiment are gone but... I betrayed my own kind by aiding the Stran...gers in Their work, even if it was under... coercion." He makes a kind of vague gesture at himself, hunched and limping and out of breath, with his scarred eye. There was really a lot of 'coercion'. "I don't think I'd be very popular, once people... found out."

She nodded, "Might do you well to stay then, at least for a while." A small smile, "Not the first time Below's been a sanctuary of sorts, I sincerely doubt it will be the last."

Eventually his heart pills will run out and that will be bad, but maybe by then he will find some kind of doctor in the Below to help. Definitely he needs a sanctuary. "I... think I like it here, so far. It... is a little alarming sometimes, but not the... way They were."

Doctors, of a sort, were definitely something they had, working right alongside the sorcerers, alchemists, faith healers and their ilk, each one of them just as legitimate as the next.

"Alarming it is indeed." She replied, smiling again, "And if you're looking to avoid being startled, best avoid traveling by the tube. Especially if you haven't got a guide."

Just maybe he will find somebody Below who can do more for him then hand him pills and guess how many years he has left to live.

"I'll keep that in mind. I'm not... used to having a guide, but you're very helpful." At least he does not have anywhere specific that he needs to go, so he can keep traveling at his own pace.

"I should hope I'm helpful, I've lived here my whole life." She replied, wholly amused. A shrug followed, "Though that may not be the best indicator, some who've been here that long aren't in the least bit helpful."

"Kind, then." He smiles at her. "In the city it's easier for someone to pass... by a stranger, then to stop and help. Any...where there's lots of people, I think, that's true. Thank you."

"And if you stay Below long enough, you'll be completely invisible Above, sorry to say. Unfortunate side-effect of having fallen through the cracks."

She paused then, looking ceilingward for a moment, thinking that over, "No, not completely, there will always be some who can see you, the ones falling through the cracks themselves, or those who never learned how not to notice."

A wry little smile, "It's complicated. But for the most part, once you've gotten this far there's no going back."

He does not have to think about this very long at all. "That's... okay. I don't think I'd mind... that at all." He does not have any friends or family waiting anywhere. Maybe he was already falling through the cracks before. He knows what it is like to walk down the street and be ignored, and that was a long time before he found this place.

"People here seem to no...tice me more then people ever did, in the City."

"That's because they're all in the same boat, so the saying goes. We see each other here in a way that most Upworlders can't manage."

There was horn in the distance, like the call of a hunting party bugle and her head popped up, "Oh, dear, that's me, isn't it? I should go." She gathered herself, giving him another smile, "One last bit of advice. Stay on this side of Night's Bridge."

"I've never been a... part of things. That I can remem...ber." He kind of thinks he may be pleased that he is, now, even if it is a weird thing to have to adjust to.

The sound does get his attention but it doesn't mean anything to him. "The night's... I won't cross any bridges." He nods and smiles a little but he will do his best to take her advice. "Thank you, for all the advice!" He is not going to keep her from going wherever she has to go, but it has been nice to have somebody stop and walk with him a while and help him adjust.