(no subject)

[gone_byebye]

Guard duty's been dealt with. Sleep's been done.

Never mind the indoor Quidditch. Ray's really starting to look forward to going home. For now, though, he'll settle for getting dinner and sitting in the Bar, near the observation window, with his book on qigong exercises.

Comments

[venusadept_2]

Because the time has come... Here comes Felix

"Lightning-guy Ray, you seem knowledgable."

[gone_byebye]

Ray looks up from his book. "Hi, Felix. What's up?"

[venusadept_2]

"Well, I've been noticing that almost every time I introduce myself the other person sticks his hand at me. Why is that?"

[gone_byebye]

"It's a custom on Earth," Ray says. "Stems from a time when men carried daggers and swords more than they do now. Most people on my planet use their right hands for nearly all their daily tasks, including fighting with weapons. They used to offer their right hands for the shaking as a way of showing that they weren't wielding a dagger and couldn't just stab you on the spot. You were supposed to shake their hand to show them that you weren't wielding anything either. We don't carry weapons like that as much any more, but we still do the hand thing anyway."

[venusadept_2]

"Ah." Felix nods. "That makes sense. Now I won't feel so foolish when it happens."

He sits not too far away. "Have you been doing anything interesting recently?"

[gone_byebye]

"I wish." Ray rubs at his face. "I'm standing guard duty most days on a friend who isn't himself. I can read while I do it, but I can't read anything he might get hold of and use for anything dangerous, so most of my favored books are off the list. I'll tell you, I'll be glad when this is all over."

[venusadept_2]

"Oh dear. Does somebody know a way to return the friend to himself?"

[gone_byebye]

"Yeah," Ray says, "but it won't work until either certain people from his world come here, or we find some way to get to their world and drag them here bodily. Which isn't very likely, so."

[mandercommander.livejournal.com]

Bonzo walks over to Ray. He looks somewhat less-stressed than he was when he got into the bar, but he still looks like there's something on his mind.

[gone_byebye]

Ray looks up. "Hey, Bonzo. How's it going?"

[mandercommander.livejournal.com]

Bonzo sighs.

"I'm doing alright. My world, on the other hand..."

Bonzo hands over a datapad, which has a large number of news stories listed, most prominently (and in "Second Coming" print):
Defeat at Bugger Homeworld

[gone_byebye]

Ray looks down at the headline.

"Oh, hell. That's not good."

[mandercommander.livejournal.com]

Bonzo nods.

"There's more of the same littered throughout the news, but that's the gist of it."

He sighs.

"Petra and I have been trying to sort out what was different between our worlds."

[gone_byebye]

"Aside from what you said about you not being dead, that is?"

[mandercommander.livejournal.com]

Bonzo nods.

"Well, trying to figure out how that plays into it, actually...I'm pretty sure that's the big difference."

[gone_byebye]

"ugh. Talk about your butterfly effects..."

[mandercommander.livejournal.com]

Bonzo sighs.

"Well, the commander in the war killed me, and the effect killing me had on him seems to have helped him win somehow. Not as much of a butterfly effect, but still..."

[redsnout.livejournal.com]

"Yeepyeepyeep!" Scribble has gotten bored of playing the barstool game, and after catching Ray's scent, has decided to barrel up to him. She waves her foreclaws as she hops from foot to foot, still yeeping madly.

Raptor Red follows behind her, carrying their own dinner along with her and shaking her head a bit at her chick.

[gone_byebye]

Ray looks down at the noise and grins. "Hi, Scribble," he says. A moment later he's dropping a fistful of turkey jerky on the floor near the young dinosaur. "And hi, Red."

[redsnout.livejournal.com]

Scribble's reaction is predictable-she stops in her yeeping to do her impersonation of a Hoover, ridding the floor of jerky in a matter of seconds.

Red nods to him, taking a bite out of the lump on the plate. "Hi, Ray. I haven't seen you in awhile."

[gone_byebye]

"I've been busy," Ray admits. "There's this-"

How does he translate the situation into terms Red will understand?

"I've been watching over a human chick who's not well."

[redsnout.livejournal.com]

Her head tilts to the side. "What's wrong? Is it sick with bugs? Did a male attack it?"

[gone_byebye]

"A female attacked him," Ray says. "She'd stolen something from a friend of his, and he tried to get it back, but she was much older and stronger than him, so she attacked him."

That's as good a translation of the Draco-Blodwen-Danny incident as any.

[redsnout.livejournal.com]

She nods-it makes sense, to her. After all, some females seem as willing to off other raptors as the males, especially if they're a different type. "Is he getting any better?"

[gone_byebye]

"Slowly," Ray says. "It'll go faster once we've found his sister to help him instead."