(no subject)

[gone_byebye]

Bar is occasionally weird about time even within her precincts. Some people go into the bathroom, or upstairs, and get stuck there for ages on end from one side's perspective- but only a few moments from their own.

In Ray's case, it's been about a day since he started feeling unwell and went upstairs to take a nap. He's spent that day in bed trying to:

a) drink lots of fluids
b) blow his nose enough
c) get over the sudden and powerful urge to call himself 'Megatron' and start building some kind of bizarre device to extract energy from the world's housecats or something similar
d) bring his fever down a couple of notches without resorting to painkillers.

It hasn't worked so good, so he's downstairs in search of OTC painkillers and some tissues that won't take off much more skin from his nose. Fair warning, the man's still infectious.


[OOC: yeah, he's still an IMDB Flu vector, for those who're interested.]

Comments

[vance_prime]

Alyx frowns worriedly. "You want me to get you some chicken soup or something?"

[gone_byebye]

"I should get it myself," Ray says. With an apologetic look he adds, "No sense me being down here and bothering somebody who's busy, right?"

[vance_prime]

Alyx shrugs. "I've got time. That's half the reason I came here."

[gone_byebye]

He'd insist, but the flu really isn't doing his inner ear any favors, so he sits down with an apologetic look.

"Thanks, miss," he says. "I'm really sorry if we've met and I don't remember your name, but I'm really not feeling well right now. I mean, in case you hadn't noticed. My name's Ray Stantz."

[vance_prime]

Blink. Blink.

"Seriously?"

[gone_byebye]

Silently, Ray flips open his wallet and holds it out for inspection.

It's worth noting that the expiration date is in 1988.

[vance_prime]

"...huh. That is weird. I know a guy with the exact same name and the exact same job..."

[gone_byebye]

"Dark hair, about yea tall, robot daughter?" Ray says as he puts his wallet away. "That's the me from another universe. He comes here way more often than I do. We leave notes for each other to keep each other up to date on what's going on back home."

[vance_prime]

"That's... different," says Alyx. "I'm Alyx, by the way. And I'm pretty sure there's only one of me."

[gone_byebye]

"Oh, there's at least five or six universes with different versions of us in them," Ray says. "I haven't been to them myself, except for one a few years back. It's-" He sneezes again. "Ugh. It's good to meet you, Alyx. I'm sorry about this flu."

[vance_prime]

"It's okay," Alyx reassures him. "Hang on, I'll get you that soup..."

She heads for the Bar and returns a moment later with a large bowl of chicken noodle soup and a fresh box of tissues.

[gone_byebye]

"Thank you," says Ray. "I-"

He pauses and clutches the edge of the table very, very hard for a while. Finally he says, "Okay. That keeps happening. I have to keep telling myself that if I really was a giant robot overlord from the planet Cybertron I wouldn't have to keep blowing my nose."

[vance_prime]

"And I wouldn't be here offering you food," agrees Alyx. "Maybe you ought to go lie down..."

[gone_byebye]

"You know? That's probably a good idea," Ray says. "I'll just bring the soup upstairs. Thanks, Alyx!"

[vance_prime]

"You're welcome. Feel better."

Alyx turns back to the task of marking train routes on the map.

Occasionally, she sneezes.