Walking in a Winter Wonderland...

[blond-w-brain.livejournal.com]

...and to Egon Spengler it is. He's wearing a puffy coat and a scarf and some boots and jeans, and standing a bit outside the door, just taking in the air, and the lake, and all of it. It's very different than New York City, or the inside of Milliways, and he's been getting a little bit of cabin fever.

Besides, there's someone he knows comes out here, and he's hoping to run into that person.

Never know who else he might run into, though

Comments

[gone_byebye]

Ray laughs. "Give the new regime a little while and then let me order your breakfast for you. She's still willing to give me Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs once in a while."

He starts looking around for a suitable clod of snow to use as the nucleus of the snowman's thorax section. "Not a problem," he says. "I was thinking a pilot's helmet would look better anyway."

This is Milliways. It hasn't even occurred to Ray that it might have been a joke.

[blond-w-brain.livejournal.com]

"Oh, good grief, do you know that in my universe they discontinued those about six months ago?" There's a small sound of sadness in Egon's voice, mourning for lost sugar. "I've had to make do with Cocoa Puffs, which aren't nearly as satisfying."

Egon points. "There, that should be a good start." And it probably will be.

[gone_byebye]

Ray stares at this.

Eventually, after the fashion of a soldier saluting a coffin, he takes off his hat.

"Sorry to hear that, Egon," he says, pulling it back on. "That's just cruel. Remind me to pack heavy if I ever have reason to believe Bar's going to send me to your universe again.... yeah, I think you're right. Let's start with that one."

[blond-w-brain.livejournal.com]

A snowman is cheerily built; sticks are found for arms. As they rummage for stones for eyes and nose, Egon hrms.

"There was a woman I saw in the bar, Ray. She was one of those that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Alabaster from head to toe, including eyes, a sword, and, er... ridicululous pulchritudinous. Her entire attitude made me somewhat fearful. Should I be avoiding her?"

[gone_byebye]

When Egon isn't looking, Ray finds four more sticks for the arms. Ray's ideas of appropriate snowman construction are generally best kept out of sight on the Firehouse roof.

"Hmm," he says, considering this description. "I honestly can't say I've ever encountered her, but around here, if your instincts say someone's bad mojo, then by all-"

He stops. And blinks.

"You don't have a PKE meter with you, do you. Oh, man. I have a spare upstairs- I should've thought-"

[blond-w-brain.livejournal.com]

Egon approves of the extra arms, he does.

"I do - I was hoping to get readings for inside the containment unit, but didn't have the time. I left it in the room, however, because I wasn't sure if using a PKE meter counts as 'business', as you stated to me."

[gone_byebye]

"Nah, meters are fine. Traps are out, unless they get cleared with Security first, although they let me in once with a Class Six in a box. That was for a party, though. Meters are fine- there's a lot of patrons here who're actually fascinated by 'em, and more than a few people like to see just how high they can make the meter spike." Ray grins. "I had to build in a dampener slide-switch on my meter after I scanned one guy who was the incarnation of the force of magic. Remember how fast your meter exploded that one time you scanned the Ragnarok parchment? Like that. I don't think I've ever done an overhand throw that quickly."

[blond-w-brain.livejournal.com]

"I'll remember that. I wonder if I can find a way to make a meter smaller - I expect some people would be less than happy to have a meter waved at them, so if I wanted to be surreptitious..." He gets his thinky look again. "I could ask the Bar, but I would like to work it out myself."

[gone_byebye]

"I don't blame you," Ray says, considering his segment of the snowman and briefly wondering whether there's enough snow present at the moment to render, say, Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of Thark (answer: no). "On either count. Personally, about the only time I've asked Bar for technology beyond what I've currently got was to buy the holocomputer. Even my crystal rig upstairs is mostly home design, although admittedly I got a lot of information from the University of Edinburg's photonics department when I was designing it. Things work better when you know what went into making them- but you knew that."

[blond-w-brain.livejournal.com]

"You're thinking about making a snowthark again, aren't you?" Egon says. Yes, he knows Ray.

"And yes. I want to see what I can do myself. I do want to see your modification - it would be good not to have any melting or exploding meters, and I'm sure something interesting will come of it." He adds some snow, making the head somewhat more rounded. "But a watch-sized one might be very useful indeed."

[gone_byebye]

"Well, we've got enough limbs. And we could spray it green with food coloring. The metal would be a problem, though- it's just not a proper thark without the metal."

"I'm not so sure about miniaturizing it that far. I kind of like the size of the current data display. All the meters we've been using in my universe've been based on your design for the past year and a half or so, by the way- the sheer amount of information it pulls in is light-years beyond what we were getting out of the original models. I've just been tweaking."

[blond-w-brain.livejournal.com]

"Well, the initial use would be for surreptitous surveys. Places where some of the higher-class entities might recognize a PKE meter and take action, even if they don't recognize one of us. Once you have a confirmation of some activity, you can return with proper equipment to deal with whatever happens to be there." He shudders slightly, remembering... no, best not thought about.

"I'm glad to know, though, that my design has been so successful in other philiotic continui. I'm sure it's nothing that you and your Egon wouldn't have come up with eventually, so I don't have reservations about philiotic cross-contamination."

[gone_byebye]

"Mmm, that's true. Hadn't thought of that." That's a common failing of his. "If you do get around to that kind of miniaturization, let me know. I traded some of our sensortech to another universe in exchange for the upgrades to Ecto that led to her waking up, and I think they might be interested in further upgrades somewhere along the line. My world's got an alternate echo of several of their people in it, so it's not entirely an unheard-of possibility."