gone_byebye | (no subject)

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apocalypse - what now?

(no subject)

14 North Moore St
Manhattan
Mid-Afternoon

The door opens on a cloudy day in New York City; the air is cool, the winds are stirring, and the alley, as usual, has more than a few discarded papers and plastic bags blowing around. "Looks about right," Ray comments, stepping through. "Welcome to New York City, folks."

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River sits back and watches, curious. A bit amused at the sight.

Ray considers the screen a moment as he straightens up from the scan. Then he nods. "Okay, now turn around, we're almost done... there we go. I think that's enough data, that should do it."

Ryan puts his arms down, shooting a subtle look at River.

'You're next,' it says.

Not fair.

But he's right.

"And before we get too much farther, mm. My situation has changed as well. And I'm not sure the recorder is still working on me."

Edited 2009-09-20 03:23 (UTC)

"Oh?" says Ray, eyeing the scan data thoughtfully. "In what way has the situation changed, should I ask?"

Ryan drops his chin ever so slightly.

"No longer baseline human," he explains, tone somewhere between pride and wariness. "It happened at Cubefall."

River gives a tight little smile, eyebrows dancing up for a moment.

"Yes, that's a good way to put it."

Ray blinks, frowning a little; then his expression clears. "Oh, right," he said. "You asked me about how Cubefall works, and permanent changes and stuff like that. I remember now. So you went through with it after all? Congratulations. I'll be sure to account for that when I run the scanners this time."

Ryan relaxes again. He hadn't thought it'd be an issue with Ray but, well. Better to be safe than sorry.

"Is it that great of a difference?" He asks, curious, before adding, "You don't have to answer if it involves a lot of words I'm not going to know."

"Richard," she says gently.

"Thank you Ray. And yes, I did go through with it, and chose to keep the changes. It's been -- exhilarating, to say the least."

"Congratulations again, then, albeit several months belatedly," Ray says. "Glad it's working out for you. Now hold still, please- as for your question,A Captain, once you've seen the background scan enough times you learn to filter out the lines that read 'werewolf' and concentrate on the remaining variants. I could go into piles of gory detail here but this is usually the point where Peter gives me the Dull Surprise face, so I'll pull up short for all our sakes."

River looks vaguely disappointed, but shrugs nonetheless. She can always pick his brain later.

She holds the same position that Richard did as he scans her.

It doesn't take long here, either. Eventually Ray steps back and says, "All right, you can lower your arms now. I think I have the appropriate data necessary to do this..."

Ryan holds his peace, silently watching instead.

River is peering over Ray's shoulder, trying to figure out just what kind of reading he's taken.

"Sorry, I simply find this all fascinating."

"Perfectly understandable, Dr. Song, and as soon as I've processed it all we'll get the two of you set- not to mention the documentation I'll be delivering to you," Ray says. "Ever since a horrific incident several decades ago whose particulars currently elude my memory I've made a practice of disseminating my information to people from other universes and continua who can be trusted. Granted, that usually means opening my Milliways door repeatedly until I hit an alternate Firehouse, then throwing the documentation through the door, but I'd say you'll do for a substitute."

Sooo... "Then we're done for now?"

"For now. I'd love to hold onto your documentation for you. We can put a copy in the Library as well." She returns to Richard's side.

"And please, Ray. Call me River. Dr. Song was my mother and she's been dead a very, very long time."

"All right then," Ray says, "not a problem. I believe we should be able to get that clean recording prepped and ready to go pretty shortly- pending the arrival of the appropriate parts, of course. UPS is just a bitch sometimes- anyway, it shouldn't take that long to work all the kinks out."

This hasn't taken as nearly as long as he thought it was going to. It's a nice surprise.

"Thank you for this, Ray. We truly appreciate it."

"Yes, and if you ever need anything researched, please. Let me know."

She has no idea what UPS is or why it's such a bitch, but if it becomes necessary, she'll be sure to ask.

"Not a problem," Ray says. "By the way, unless I greatly miss my guess Egon should be coming home about now. He and Miss Eartha went off to a rare books auction at the Armory today."

Before River can ask about the books (because Ryan knows she will ask about the books), he inquires, "Miss Eartha?"

He knows this isn't the same as the animated continuum, but what happened to Janine?

River stops mid-sentence, the word 'books' dying on her lips as she waits for Ray's answer.

"Ah, I see I forgot to mention her to you." Ray smiles. "Are either of you familiar with the Jewish legend of the golem?"