happy birthday (open mostly!)

[heymcfly]

WHO: Marty McFly and YOU!
WHERE: Various places.
WHEN: June 12th, Marty's birthday.
WHAT: Catch all for this month basically.
WARNINGS: none!


DE CHIMA

Marty didn't expect people to bow the streets when he passed on his birthday, but he figured people would at least wish him a good birthday, maybe send him a present or two if he was lucky. A little smile and a nod passing down the street, even. Most of this was kind of farfetched anyways, since the new friends he's met here didn't really know about his birthday (unless imPorts' birthdays were passed around like celebrity house information in New York City), and it wasn't like he bothered to announce it anyways. There was one person who knew his birthday for sure, and that's what had mattered to Marty.

Until Doc changed.

What he had expected to be a good day had turned to utter shit in a matter of hours. People were milling through other weird problems going on, Doc was bald and completely unaware of anything, and most of his other friends were probably too busy to do anything else. If this is what being an adult had to offer, Marty would happily pass.

He's sitting on the stoop of a house now, looking at the only gift he had received today. Along with it came a letter from the Doc (normal Doc?), stating that this pocketwatch was in fact a Brown heirloom. Given to the oldest son on their eighteenth birthday. Normally, Marty would be touched by such a big surprise (and he was!), but when his best friend could hardly recognize him at all, it made him more sad than anything else. Honestly.

He carefully shuts the watch and slips it into his pocket, before muttering out loud, "This birthday sucks."

CAPE CANAVERAL

When in doubt, make your own birthday great. It wasn't like he couldn't; as of now, Marty McFly was a legal adult. If he wanted to go to Florida, he damn well could.

Of all the things he hoped would be invented in his home world, Ports was one of them. He didn't have to worry about airplanes, or money, or waiting in line while someone inside of the plane held up the entire boarding line by putting all one-thousand of his bags away in storage. All he had to do was take a little walk, and bam! From De Chima, all the way down to Florida.

He was pretty sure that it was every little kid's dream to go to Cape Canaveral to see all the cool stuff NASA had to offer. Space ships, pieces of meteorites, whatever. Going on big vacations wasn't something often discussed in the McFly household (at least, as far as Marty could ever remember) so why not take one now?

Marty steps through the Porter, and when he gets there...he has no idea what to do. He imagined this place to be one giant rocketship launcher. Not an actual place.

When in doubt, ask, right? "'Scuse me, do you know how to get to the space station?"

MAURTIA FALLS

Pennsylvania weather apparently was awful, a lot of the time. Everyone from sunny California always said that if you wanted to be depressed, PA was the place to go. It was always very rainy and glum, especially if you made it into the places near the mountains. The darker colors always was the kicker.

That's not the original reason why Marty goes to Maurtia Falls, though. He wants to continue this birthday thing he has going on, to try and distract himself from the fact that his friend has gone apeshit crazy on his eighteenth birthday. He knows nothing about this city, other than the fact that people live here. And apparently, it's a little...shifty.

It's not enough to stop him from going through the Porter, and making his way onto the streets. The skies overhead are (surprise!) dark and cloudy, and it smells like it could rain.

Marty turns his attention to a nearby cafe, right across the road, when the thunder starts to boom. A second later, he feels a waterdrop hit his head. Before he can think about running across the busy street to take shelter, it starts to downpour. He's instantly soaked to the bone.

Of course.

You might find a very grumpy, a very frustrated Marty McFly standing in the rain, while the crowd around him gets on by with umbrellas popped above their heads. What a very accurate way to describe today.

CLOSED TO DOC!

For what part of the day Marty wasn't sulking around outside, he was looking at this letter he got from Doc. Nothing made sense right now; the Doc in this letter sounded like how his friend was supposed to be. But the Doc that was walking around now was anything but this. He didn't know who Marty was, or what the definition of fun meant. The Doc Brown of today was nothing what he was supposed to be.

At first, Marty was damn upset. He was angry, then he was sad. Then he got this letter and the emotions repeated themselves all over again.

But now he was confused. How could this letter sound so...Docish, when Doc was anything but himself?

Maybe it was Doc's calculations. This letter did say that he was supposed to receive it nine days ahead of time, and he got it right on his birthday. His friend was absolutely brilliant, but that didn't meant that he was right about everything all of the time.

Or maybe it was something going on in the world itself. Maybe bad guy antics? Something. It had to be something.

After sitting in his room and re-reading the letter for the hundredth time that day, Marty folds it carefully in his pocket and heads next door. He's going to figure out what's going on with his friend, no matter what the other might have to say about it. Something's not right. Marty can feel it in his gut.

When he reaches the door, he knocks once before letting himself in. The usual Doc wouldn't mind this. "Doc? You home?"

Comments

[4thdimensional]

It's evening. Emmett has had quite the long day to make his plans---he's extensively researched the town's history and current state, incorporating what he can into a proposal for the future. It will take considerable effort, especially without Edna's assistance, but he'll certainly try.

Secluded in his room, as he always is these days, he's settled at his desk in a brand new dressing gown. He's folded up his notes and is ready to start winding down when he hears a noise at the door. Before he can react, someone barges in---that strangely familiar young man from the video.

"Well this is quite the surprise---what's the meaning of all this?"

And why does this boy keep calling him Doc?

[heymcfly]

Seeing Doc from the video was shocking enough. But this?

It's so weird to see his friend looking so pampered. Doc would sometimes fall asleep in his clothes, because why not? He was messy and a little disheveled, but that's what made Doc...well, Doc.

This Doc was way too neat and orderly to be right. He was in a dressing gown with folded up notes tucked away all nice and pretty, and he was even wearing glasses. And he was mostly bald. And he didn't seem to care about that?

He also sounds a little taken aback by Marty's sudden entrance. Everything about this Doc is so wrong, it's alarming. But he tries to keep his cool as he pulls out the note from before, giving it to his friend(?) to look over. "I got a letter from you this mornin'. A little bit after I talked to you on the video."

Marty wants to go somewhere with this. But when he announces the present, he's stumped. What to do now? "You sure you're not feelin' weird?"

[4thdimensional]

Emmett tugs his clothing into place, doing his level best to look dignified despite the circumstances. What's happened to this Martin, he wonders, to be so unlike the model citizen he knows?

"I've been in perfect health, as far as I'm aware, and I haven't sent any correspondence...but here, perhaps I'd best get to the bottom of this."

This letter might hold some sort of explanation. He carefully crosses the room and takes the letter, flicking the light back on and sitting with it at the desk. In another moment, he sets a blank piece of paper next to the letter for note-taking.

It's difficult to decipher, and he has many questions...but when he looks at his notes and compares them to the letter, the writing appears identical. That gives him pause.

"Assuming this isn't some manner of a prank, this other man with my name and penmanship couldn't have met you thirty years ago, you're not nearly old enough. And the name you keep using, 'Doc'...

Is all of this supposed to lead me to conclude that I'm an alternate of another Emmett Brown?"

It's a delusion, it has to be...but something about the long-winded discussions of impossible concepts calls out to his soul.

[heymcfly]

The whole time Doc reads over his other-self's letter, Marty's heart has been hammering in his chest so hard it's left him breathless. His brain keeps trying to come up with reasons as to why Doc's behaving like this, but there's basically nothing. The most Marty can do for now is to try and coax his memory along. Show this Doc who the real Doctor Brown is.

"That's right, Doc." He nods along, allowing himself to feel a little bit of relief. "You're not the real Emmett Brown."

After Marty says that, it sounds way too harsh. But he continues. "Doc Brown's a scientist who's dedicated himself to...science." His hands slide into his pockets. "Hence the 'doc' thing. You got your doctorate." He doesn't stop there, oh no. "I met you thirty years ago 'cause you invented a time machine. I went back thirty years in the future, back to 1955. I met with you then, and you helped me get back to the year 1985."

Marty takes a step forward, two. "I don't know anything 'bout this perfect schoolboy system you got goin' on here, but it's not right. Hill Valley's a dump. I got more detentions in school than I can count, and this 'Junior Brown' thing you talked about doesn't even exist."

He pauses. Yeah, that probably didn't sound very nice, did it?

"I don't wanna sound like an asshole, Doc, but this isn't you."

[4thdimensional]

Emmett takes notes on all of these things, his frown deepening all the while. Time travel...it's impossible, it has to be. Those were the kinds of fanciful thoughts he might have entertained as a boy, but that time was long over.

"I can't fathom how I'd be any less real than you," he says, a faint trace of irritation slipping into his voice. "I may have harbored dreams of becoming an inventor as a lad, but that was the folly of youth. When I saw the importance of putting a stop to crime, I dedicated my life to the betterment of society. A society you were part of, or so I believed."

De Chima

[superposition]

If the house whose stoop he's on is Doc's, then Qubit's bound to be along sooner or later. He arrives in his usual manner - which is to say, a bright blue teleportal appears on the sidewalk out of nowhere, and a second or two later he comes striding through, closing it behind him.

It takes him another second to recognize the fellow on the steps. They haven't spoken much, if at all, but he's seen him around at parties and such. "You're Emmett's friend, aren't you?" he asks - and that right there clears up what's wrong, because Emmett is definitely not himself. "Marty, right?"

[heymcfly]

There's a weird whooshing sound beside him. Marty raises his head enough to watch as a bright blue portal opens out of nowhere, and out strides a man looking as normal as any other day. It was almost like he was screaming 'yeah, i just opened a portal from one place to here, got a problem with it?' Any other day, Marty would probably be interested enough to ask a few questions about this guy's powers. Being able to make portals and stuff like that was pretty heavy.

But not today.

While his interest dwindles, his gaze returns to the sidewalk in front of him. The only thing that makes him raise his head is the mentioning of his name. "'S me."

Who was this guy, even? Was he one of Doc's new friends? Marty's been to parties and stuff before, sure. But it wasn't like he went out of his way to meet Doc's new inner circle. Despite the fact (yes, fact) that his friend deserved all the buddies in the world, it still left a sour taste in his mouth. He's sure he's seen this guy around though. Wasn't he at the sleepover?

"Why?"

[superposition]

It doesn't take a genius to see that the kid's absolutely despondent. Qubit approaches him up the walk, hands resting in his coat pockets.

"Well, maybe you can help me," he replies. "I've been trying to figure out what's the matter with him. He's not the only one acting strange the past couple days, either. But you and he already knew each other before you were brought here, didn't you?"

[heymcfly]

He's heard a bit about others acting weird over the past few days. Some stupid part of him thought that maybe, if things went okay and his karma was good, Doc would be left alone. Especially with his birthday coming up and everything.

That didn't work out well.

Marty looks up and offers a little nod. "Yeah. He's my best friend." Was? "We've known each other for a few years back in my world." Or in Doc's case, over thirty. But that's beside the point. "What do you need help with?"

De Chima

[idontwanttoknow]

Ivan is coming up the steps to DC04 when he happens to hear his housemate's sigh of dismay. "It's your birthday?" He asks. He hardly knows the guy, but him on the doorstep alone seems rather cruel. Ivan sits next to him.

[heymcfly]

Marty hardly notices Ivan coming, watching with a sad smile as his housemate takes a seat beside him. "'S right." He nods once or twice, before returning his vision to the street in front of him. "My eighteenth."

He shakes his head this time, his hand moving towards his pocket to pick out the little watch he had been given. "I coulda been at home instead. There the Doc wouldn't be messed up." Forget the fact that his parents probably could have bought him some great presents, or would have let him have a great party or two. "Sucks."

[idontwanttoknow]

Eighteen. And here Ivan was hoping to take the guy drinking.

"You have a friend with a mixed up timeline, too?" he asks. "My coz got switched. Started hitting on me."

[heymcfly]

"Your cousin?" Marty can't help but wrinkle his nose. Being hit on by close family members is something he's unfortunately familiar with. "Sorry 'bout that." He shakes his head, looking at Ivan with a look that probably says something like 'i know what you're going through, buddy'. "What's happening with these guys?"

A pause. "They messed with my best friend from home." He wants to say something along the lines of it wrecked his birthday, but he won't.

Even though it did.

De Chima;

[itistolaugh]

Harleen needed a break from Heropa and all its little reminders of a life as a person she couldn't remember and didn't much care to know. So after work she went to the Porter, picked a destination through the fine tradition of eenie meenie miney moe, and started walking.

It was ... nice. Refreshing. It felt like a clean slate, where she didn't have to worry about anybody else's expectations.

It was also how she got suuuper lost. She's on the edge of concern, not quite to panicked, when she passes the young man and overhears his birthday woe. She doesn't want to talk to anybody in case they know some terrible other version of her, but she's had too many crappy birthdays to let it pass.

Empathy is a gift and a curse.

"Hey! Happy birthday!"

[heymcfly]

Okay. Marty could be having a shit birthday thus far and his best friend could be a living, walking police radar, but it was always good to hear something nice from a stranger. Even if Marty did or didn't give out a verbal hint. He looks up to the stranger and offers a smile, although it's more or less leaking self-pity. "Thanks."

Don't worry, Harley! He has no idea who you are! "Guess I said that a little too loud, huh?"

[itistolaugh]

She takes a step or two closer so they don't have to yell at each other, but she's still hesitant to come any closer.

"I think the birthday boy can talk as loud as he wants. Sorry it's a disappointment this year."

Harleen frowns and shifts nervously. This is a stupid, bad, stupid idea. She's going to do it anyway.

"Um, I think I passed a bakery somewhere. I'll buy you a cupcake."

[heymcfly]

Man, at least this lady is nice about it. From a lady all dressed up and wearing glasses, he was almost expecting a lecture on how it was his birthday, and why wasn't he thankful for the stuff he already had? As if there was anything to be thankful for here. He had new friends, sure, but he had a great one who didn't even know who Marty was. Doc had been perfectly fine, except for when the clock chimed midnight. The second his birthday rolled around, things went to shit.

But she's nice. She apologizes, even though it's not his fault. And she lets him bitch, which is nice.

At her offer, Marty perks his head up, but in the end, he shakes his head. "N-Nah, don't worry 'bout it. You don't have to do that." He offers a little smile. "'S not your fault."

...A cupcake would be great, though.

Maurtia Falls

[liverletdie]

He didn't routinely spend time in Maurtia Falls, and why should he? The place was normally a place for vices -- of which he had spent a lot of time excising the more marketable of his own; and money sinks -- of which he was too smart to fall into. Gambling was only fun if there was a challenge, and his grasp of physics and mathematics meant most games were probably a touch too easy -- and counting cards was automatic.

He walked by, umbrella already out and over his head -- white, oddly enough, he'd bout it just this afternoon -- when he saw the... frankly sad teenager in the rain.

That was just pathetic, wasn't it?

"You know, you could get out of this mess, if you wanted to," he said, and stopped, but he didn't put the umbrella over both their heads.

[heymcfly]

The voice itself isn't what makes Marty raise his head, but what the guy has to say. He looks up to find a guy dressed all nice-like, holding an umbrella over his head. The guy sounds kind of smug, and he's damn well acting smug. Marty takes note that this guy has a big white umbrella, but is standing far enough away so he doesn't offer Marty any protection from the rain. Alright, then.

"What?" He gives the guy an odd kind of look. Marty doesn't expect the fancy umbrella guy to know anything about what's going on right now; out of the whole world, he doesn't know who's been affected by...whatever's going on, or how many people actually realize what's happening. Are only a few people suddenly acting weird, or is it an entire community? Maybe this guy just thinks Marty's hosting his own pity party for the sake of having one.

He shakes his head. "My best friend doesn't remember anything about me at all and claims he's part of some proper committee, right on my birthday." Marty shakes his head. "How the hell do I get him out of this mess?" If he even could?

[liverletdie]

"Uh --" Tony Stark responds, looking at him quite clearly like that's a question he wasn't really prepared to answer. His mouth fell open, slightly, hand slightly slack around the umbrella, before his fingers tightened around it. One of the casualties to the event, for certain, but most people tried to hide their frustration a little more. Then again, most people that Tony Stark interacted with were probably emotionally stunted in some form or fashion.

"Kidnap him and brainwash him?" he finally said, a touch of humor in his voice. "Was he ported out, or just with the rest of the people who were caught up in that... mess?" it was a spell, he suspected. Of course it was magic, but he wasn't about to actually talk about that with someone he honestly didn't know.

[heymcfly]

When Marty hears the first suggestion, he almost believes this guy is being serious. He thankfully notes the spark of humor in his tone, and he promptly tells himself to cool it. Marty's sure to take a big breath in and out, before answering the next question.

"...I think he was with the rest of the guys caught. Least, I think so." He shakes his head. "Honestly I haven't even been payin' attention to what else is going on. Doc changing on my birthday kinda took me off a bit, y'know?"

When he says he hasn't been paying attention, he means it. "What's been going on with everyone else? Are a lot of people acting weird all of a sudden?"

happy belated birthday (June 17th)

[4thdimensional]

It's quite late at night. Doc's finally been discharged from the hospital and declared in perfect health, save for the distinct lack of his supernatural abilities. He's spent his idle time in the hospital reading up on the past week's events, doing his best to piece it all together.

This alternate Emmett Brown...really was a strange man, wasn't he? He shuddered to think about what it had done to his friends, especially Marty---especially when he'd missed Marty's important 18th birthday. It had slightly surprised Doc when Marty hadn't been at the hospital with him, but he understood. The boy had other things and people in his life, and with everyone turned upside down, there was much to fear.

But that fear is over now, Doc hopes. So he immediately sets off for home, picks up an extra-cheesy pizza and cola along the way, and slips into the house next door where Marty lives. He's informed that his friend is in the bedroom and heads in that direction, rapping on the door with a familiar knock.

"Pizza delivery! One extra-cheesy pizza for one Marty McFly."

[heymcfly]

Marty hasn't left his room since that day.

They said that Doc would come back again; something about the world they were living in somehow resurrected people after death. Doc would come back, they promised. But there was absolutely no way it was possible. As much as Marty wanted to see his friend alive and well again, there was no way he would fool himself into believing that.

Just because they all had superpowers didn't mean they were God, or whoever. They couldn't just snap their fingers and bring his best friend back.

The time Doc spent in the hospital, Marty spent in his room. When he wasn't sleeping, he was staring at the wall, or maybe the ceiling. If he wasn't doing that, and if he wasn't sleeping, he'd cry for a little bit. His head would reply the image of his friend suddenly flopping over on the stage, absolutely lifeless, over and over to the point where he would feel physically sick. Doing something that required Marty to get out of bed wiped him of all of his energy. It was hard to even breathe.

He can tell nobody's in the house when the knocking sounds at the door. It's way too quiet. Or has it always been quiet? The silence also means that nobody's going to get that door for him. Time to actually become a functioning member of society.

Marty takes his time, slowly sitting up on his bed...which took a lot. Then he had to walk out of his room to the front door, which took even more effort than it did just to sit up out of bed. Marty doesn't even want to know what he looks like when he opens up the door, about ready to ask why in the hell someone would order him pizza when he hasn't eaten since how long-

-and there's the Doc standing there.

His jaw drops. Is Marty seeing things right now? Maybe he's truly, honestly sick right now. Ill or not though, he's going to ask. "...Doc?"

[4thdimensional]

Doc answers him with an apologetic smile. He finally looks like himself again---obnoxious luau shirt, warm expression, and a full head of very messy hair. Thank goodness for this timeline switching. He silently takes in Marty's appearance: red-eyed, pale, like he's hardly slept...and he knows of course that all of this is his fault.

"If my research hasn't steered me wrong, I've missed your birthday, and there's a whole world of other nonsense I don't remember," he says to explain. "I don't exactly remember the last week's events, but from what I've pieced together on the communication channels, I know I've caused you quite a bit of grief. I'm sorry."

He opens the pizza box, and on top of all that cheese 'Happy Belated Birthday Marty' is written in sauce. Because he couldn't just go get a cake like a normal person.

[heymcfly]

Everything about Doc finally looks normal. Same out-of-control hair, same Hawaiian shirts. He's talking like himself, acting like himself, being everything that Doc Brown should be. He even replaced a birthday cake with a pizza, which is a pretty nice idea, if you should ask him. The smell of it wafts through the room, and Marty's stomach loudly reminds him that he hasn't really had anything to eat since Doc died.

Even though they lived in a world now where people had superpowers, Marty hadn't believed them when they said that eventually, Doc would come back. It was pushing it enough, giving people weird abilities. But bringing back death? Nobody could play God, no matter how hard you tried. For a while, he went on believing that his friend was truly gone, and he'd have to live without. Not only here, but back home too. That's how it would go, right?

But now Doc's here, and there's so much Marty wants to tell him. There's so much that's bouncing around in his brain, he can barely think straight. "'S not your fault." That's the first thing that comes out. Marty can't deal with Doc blaming himself for everything that's happened. No doubt that there were others around who were acting strange too. "H-Here, Doc. Come in."

The second his friend puts the birthday pizza down, Marty's going to come in for a hug. There's tears pricking at his eyes, and there's a rather painful lump in his throat that won't seem to go away. It's been rough without you, buddy.