(no subject)

[gone_byebye]

"I'm gonna need a towel, please," Ray says to the first wait-rat to cross his path. It's been a long day on the job for him and he's got his usual slime issues, namely: he, his proton pack, his jumpsuit, and nearly everything he's wearing under his jumpsuit is saturated in the stuff. "And a large glass of the quantum blue and a cheeseburger."

The rat squeaks and scampers off, returning with the towel first. Ray rubs his face vigorously before dropping into the nearest chair and unbuckling his pack. "Thanks."

Another squeak.

"Oh, hush. I'll wash up later. It's just ectoplasm."

Comments

[weirdwilbur.livejournal.com]

(Because I love these two together!)

Wilbur looks over, raising an eyebrow. "What happened ter yew?"

[gone_byebye]

"Work," says Ray, still wiping the goo from his face. "I'm not always an assistant librarian. 'lo, Wilbur."

[weirdwilbur.livejournal.com]

"Thet looks like nasty work. Exorcism?"

Wilbur is always interented in new magic.

[gone_byebye]

"Class Five free-roaming vapor removal. The little bastards were throwing their goop like it was Sunday at the zoo and somebody'd given the monkeys bran muffins." He hands the by-now sodden towel back to the rat. "Thanks."

[weirdwilbur.livejournal.com]

"Interestin'." Wilbur grins.

"I like et here. Most people dun't mind me thet much."

As if to punctuate this, a tentacle pokes out from under the hem of his coat.

[gone_byebye]

"All in a day's work. It wouldn't've been anything outstanding if they hadn't cropped up in a Swarovski crystal store. What a mess."

The next rat to arrive has the aforementioned cheeseburger and a glass of something approximately the color of Windex. Ray accepts both gratefully. "Yes, well, Milliways is accustomed to very strange patrons of all kinds. The Yithian I got swapped with for a while managed to come here in his own body, although I understand people had some difficulty with his mindset and attitudes."

[weirdwilbur.livejournal.com]

"Yeesh." Wilbur has never been to a crystal store, but he knows that crystals are delicate, and he can guess from there.

"Wal, I dun't have thet problem, anyway. Half-human an' raised by humans, sew I've leaned how tew fit en."

He turns to the rat. "Kin I have a Confewsion? I liked those."

The rat nods and scurries away, returning after a moment with a bright yellow cocktail.

[gone_byebye]

Ray nods. "I'm not really all that surprised, although as I understand it you had a fairly isolated upbringing. Wizard Whateley's farm couldn't've exactly been the center of any kind of real socialization, am I right?"

[weirdwilbur.livejournal.com]

"Naw. But et was suthin'." Wilbur grins, then sobers. "An' I went ter Dunwich sometimes. People thar didn't like me much. Called me 'thet brat' an' 'inbred freak'. Ef they only knew . . .

"Et was part o' the reason I didn't keer about what would happen tew people, Afterwards."

He looks away.

[k_in_black]

A finger drags across Ray's shoulder and a disapproving face gives the slime a close look before flicking said finger at the floor.

A Man in Black takes a chair beside Ray and settles in as the wait rat comes back to bourbon him.

"Your favorite season off to an early start, pal?"

[gone_byebye]

"Something along those lines," Ray says. "There was a Swarovski store and a couple of Class Fives. It got nasty really fast. Hi, K."

[k_in_black]

K grimaces with a sympathetic chuckle, "Ohhh, hope it wasn't a 'They break it, you bought it' scenario."

[gone_byebye]

"No, they had insurance," Ray says. "We had to certify that the damage was supernaturally caused for the insurance company to pay out on the policy, though. That kind of thing's becoming more common these days."

[k_in_black]

"Care to make a bet how long it'll take Venkman to think of cashing in with his own company?"

[gone_byebye]

"He already asked Tully about what would be involved," Ray says. "It's a conflict of interest at this point, unfortunately. He's enjoying doing the recruiting for the Paranormal Responder Corps, anyway."

[k_in_black]

K nods. "Still building resources. That's good."

"So what's the Big Picture, Chief? You have a clearer perspective on whatever's closing in?"

[gone_byebye]

Ray blows a long exhalation between his teeth. "Six hotels scattered throughout the Caribbean, all built on the same plans and along the same lines as the Shandor Building," he says. "And word from the Lemurians- I forget, did I tell you about the meeting with them?"

[magic_ferret]

"Hello Ray," says Yunno, "I've managed to get Bar to produce a primer on Mid-Childan that's used for Bureau recruits from non-Administered planets for you to work through when you've got time."

The ectoplasm gets eyed.

"Give me a moment and I'll pick up a plastic baggie from Bar to hold it."

[gone_byebye]

"You're welcome to as much of it as you like. It's nothing outstanding," Ray says. "Just a couple of standard Class Fives who went bugnuts in a crystal store. How've you been?"

[magic_ferret]

"I was thinking more for the workbook," says Yunno (who still come back with more than one container), "Alright mostly. Running some tests on material for use in Devices and some heavy duty number crunching. I'm going to be borrowing a bit more floor space in room 2342 for a better computer setup if that's alright?"

The workbook is slipped over along with the baggie. It's the English/Mid-Childan version and claims to teach the language in 'Just ten minutes a day!'

[gone_byebye]

"Oh, okay," Ray says. "That makes more sense. Sure, you're welcome to as much of it as you need... hey, would you mind if I let my daughter in on the lessons too? She's in a linguistic acquisition phase like you wouldn't believe."

[magic_ferret]

"Sure that shouldn't be a problem," agrees Yunno, "I slipped a DVD in to help with the pronunciations too."

It might be region coded for Japan though.

"The book versions are always a little off in the emphasis."

[gone_byebye]

Ray lives in New York. He'll find someone to mod the player if he needs to.

"I've noticed. Not with Japanese, I mean, with other languages. Jhalak's going to be an interesting case with her pronunciations regardless- she's not human, and doesn't have an even remotely human-shaped pharynx."

[magic_ferret]

Or ask Ecto, it's just math after all.

"Is Jhalak adopted then?" Yunno asks, "Should I be keeping an eye out in the bar for her if she visits?"

[gone_byebye]

"Yeah, I met her here," Ray says. "She's a Jotok, a five-armed, five-brained species of alien from somewhere in the direction of the Ringworld. As a matter of fact-" He indicates the sling over his shoulder. "Four of her five brains are sleeping in there at the moment. She doesn't like leaving my side just yet."