Misunderstood Monsters

Chapter 13: Awkward Introductions

Dr. Collingwood smiled a bit when she saw John. After that containment breach, everyone warmed up to him just a little bit more, but John himself was still as shy as ever. He was friendly to her, but stayed away from everyone else. Billy had told her that John hated crowds (read: any group of people more than three), so that was helpful in trying to introduce him to others.

Lawrence looked up at the towering humanoid. John was over seven feet tall when standing straight, but he always stood hunched over and arms folded to his chest, making him appear smaller than he really was.

"Hi, John."

"H-H-Hi, Lawrence."

"You okay, buddy? You look really nervous."

"I-I'm fine, i-it's just that... I'm kind of shy."

"Well, I mean, they don't call you The Shy Guy for nothing."

"I know, I know. I-It's just that I never really got to talk to... anyone, really, especially after I started... you know."

Overall, Lawrence and John had hit it off, with the latter perhaps feeling a little more assured that anyone who met him wouldn't immediately hate him

John's meeting with Carson was similar in success. Carson was still a deadpan snarker and John was shy as always. At the end, they seemed to be okay with each other. Mr. Moore went the same way.

As for Dr. Buck, that was... a little more questionable in success. There was still that feeling of not really considering John to be a person, but at least it was better than that disastrous interview with Donna.

Dr. Collingwood had debated getting John to introduce himself to Dr. Logan so that the latter could see that he really was friendly, if painfully shy, but eventually decided against it. Billy would always tag along to give John support, and she'd carefully hidden the fact that Dr. Logan had been the one who ordered John's termination. If Billy found out, she highly doubted whether even John would be able to stop him from just flat-out murdering Dr. Logan.