Ray was up to his elbows in Ecto's engine when something small and furry hit him in the back. "What the-"
A rapid-fire stream of barking bordering on yaps clarified the situation considerably. "Aeolaus?" he said curiously as he straightened up, wiping one hand ineffectually on his shirt. "What's wrong?" The blue puppy was doing an excellent impression of other dogs' 'gottagowalkiesnow' door-side dance.
Ray frowned. "Could you slow down just a little? I can't hear you over the-"
The words stuff I think I'm picking up from Indigo didn't get said- he realized as he thought them that surely that was what had the poor corgi in such a lather. As he reached over to shut the car's hood, Egon suddenly materialized out of a Pinpoint portal. "Ray?" the other man said. "There's something you need to know
( ... )
Indigo was stretched out on her Disney's Tarzan beach towel, face down, with shades on, and a book.
To say stretched out on a towel was not really accurate. Her midsection, thighs, knees and calves were still on it. And her elbows. But the rest of her was on the sand.
The Pinpoint portal didn't grasp her attention as much as the sudden empathic sledgehammer of concern and distress from Ray did. Egon must've delivered the message.
She looked up at him and gave him a taut smile. "Hi. So. Um. Hi." Yeah. Real good conversation there, Indigo. Want to try a two syllable word? "I just didn't want to break the ring," she blurted in a flurry. "I would never have taken it off otherwise, I swear, but I'm not sure where this's gonna stop. Or...or if it's gonna stop."
She leaned back and got on her knees, then onto her feet. She was a little taller than Ray, in her bare feet.
Ray just stared at first, listening, then looking. It took him a moment to really comprehend what he was seeing; he wasn't used to having to look up at people, let alone Indigo.
"No, it's okay," he said as he realized she'd gone silent. "I mean- I would've thought you'd put it on a, you know, something around your neck like high school kids do with their rings, but if you didn't have something expanding or- are you okay? I mean, I don't know what's going on any more than Egon does, but you're not in physical pain or anything, are you?"
Indigo looked back at him, evenly. Well, externally evenly. She was shielding as best she could, hoping to buffer Ray from the truth of her emotional state -- which was something much closer to panic than she was trying to let on.
"Well, yeah, ordinarily I would," Indigo assured him, speaking slowly to keep the quaver out of her voice. "But I've grown six inches since this morning. With an example like that to work from, I'm not sure the chain would've been that great an idea before long either."
"I'm...it doesn't hurt, no. I'm hungry. A good bit hungry. But it doesn't hurt."
At which point Indigo's limited sangfroid was exhausted, and she threw herself into Ray's arms.
One of Ray's legs went back automatically to brace himself, but that was the only indicator that anything was different- well, that and the part where he couldn't kiss the top of her head the way he usually did. "It's okay, Indigo," he murmured urgently. "It's gonna be, I promise. We'll figure it out."
Indigo hung on for a while, but carefully. She wasn't sure her strength was growing in proportion to her size. Ray was strong, but she didn't want to accidentally break his ribs.
"I know," she whispered back, into his hair; such an odd feeling being the taller one. "We always do." Saying that somehow made her feel a little better. "We always will. It's just gonna be ...weird for a while, that's all. And we can handle weird, right?"
She looked down at him with a small, hopeful smile.
Ray looked up- a slightly peculiar situation, but honestly, there were worse possibilities- and nodded. "We'd've been up to our eyeballs in pre-coprolithic material a long time ago if we couldn't," he said. "You, uh, wanna sit down or something?"
It took a minute for Indigo to sort out Ray's meaning from his word choice. Then she smiled slightly and nodded. "Exactly. I'm in precisely where I should be when there's something weird and it don't look good." Thank you, Ray Parker, Jr.
She obligingly plopped back down onto the sand, leaving a space for Ray on the towel. Since her height was mostly in her legs, they were very nearly able to act like nothing was wrong while seated.
Ray settled down next to her with a smile. "Hey, it's what we're here for. Just as long as you don't mind the fact that your life's gotten exponentially weirder since you started dealing with us. I figured I'd better get that one out of the way straight off and then we can either figure out what's going on or I can take a stab at a shoulder rub, because if this isn't giving you stiff muscles I don't know what would."
There was a quiet pling! as a smaller PINPoint portal deposited Egon's promised junk food nearby.
Indigo curled up against Ray's chest, relaxed a little just by his presence and his determined good humor.
"Ray? Even if I minded how much weirder my life has become? Having you is more than worth whatever your world -- or the nexus -- throws at us."
Indigo glanced around at the sound of the portal popping. "Oh. Suzy Qs. Bless you, Egon." She reached for the packet, and offered Ray the other. She was hungry, but still, there were two so you could share them!
Ray nodded. "I figured I should probably make sure just in case," he said. "But it's all good. Lord knows I wouldn't change a thing, except for the parts where you wound up hurt or distressed or whatever."
That was true. Ray accepted the snack cake solemnly. "He knows his stuff, our Dr. Spengler," he said. "Be glad it's not Peter. He would've tried to get Domino's to deliver out here."
"Never doubt," Indigo told Ray solemnly. "Never. You are the one. Now and always." She shrugged. "I get hurt and distressed easier than most. Comes with the empathy."
Ray spoke again, and Indigo dissolved into a gale of laughter. "I'd have to be really hungry to eat Domino's. And honestly, if I wanted pizza, it's not like I couldn't hit the mainland and order some." The moment of mirth was short-lived, though, as Indigo confessed, "I'm just worried about what moving around too much will do. Egon hasn't figured out what's accelerating my growth yet."
"Well, yeah," Ray said, "but that doesn't mean I have to like it when the hurt and distress happens to you. I'd spare you that if I could."
He nodded. "I'll pick up dinner for you if you want. He told me what his ideas were about that, but he's still a little confused about the possible specifics. I've got a few ideas myself, if you wanted to talk about them."
"I know you would," Indigo assured Ray. "That's one of the enumerable qualities I love about you." She punctuated this with a kiss, sweetened from Hostess cream filling.
"Dinner sounds good. Maybe something candlelit and romantic, here on the beach, at sunset?" Her expression went vaguely dreamy, before the matter at hand resurfaced in her head.
"Ideas would be better, I think. Something constructive rather than just sitting here fretting about why I seem to be growing six inches every few hours. Eiko says the jumpsuit'll stretch a good bit. Which is good, because I'm already too tall for most of my wardrobe...and it all looks silly now."
"I think we can arrange something, sure... How long until sunset, anyway?"
But he nodded. "Okay. Egon suggested some form of curse, but I've seen the PKE numbers and they really don't match up with anything of that sort that I know. You don't appear to have attracted any deific attention lately beyond the common run of anybody in the Nexus, and you haven't cheesed anybody off that I know of who's capable of doing this. That sort of points to an entity that either isn't in the Nexus or doesn't announce itself being responsible, and the lack of a recognizable PKE signature points to the use of some kind of technology."
"It's only about two in the afternoon local time. We've got about five hours, given the time of year," Indigo said, after giving it a moment's thought.
She fell attentively silent as Ray spoke, then shook her head. "No. Hermes was a little ticked off at me, but his necklace still fits. It's growing with me. So I don't think I've irritated him enough that he's cursed me."
"And far as I know, I haven't done anything to tick anyone off. But I also have been skimming lately. It's so busy I can't possibly keep up with everything happening...so maybe I missed something. It'd be worth checking into. At least while I'm still within normal human size range and can check the browser on the PINPoint."
A rapid-fire stream of barking bordering on yaps clarified the situation considerably. "Aeolaus?" he said curiously as he straightened up, wiping one hand ineffectually on his shirt. "What's wrong?" The blue puppy was doing an excellent impression of other dogs' 'gottagowalkiesnow' door-side dance.
Ray frowned. "Could you slow down just a little? I can't hear you over the-"
The words stuff I think I'm picking up from Indigo didn't get said- he realized as he thought them that surely that was what had the poor corgi in such a lather. As he reached over to shut the car's hood, Egon suddenly materialized out of a Pinpoint portal. "Ray?" the other man said. "There's something you need to know ( ... )
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To say stretched out on a towel was not really accurate. Her midsection, thighs, knees and calves were still on it. And her elbows. But the rest of her was on the sand.
The Pinpoint portal didn't grasp her attention as much as the sudden empathic sledgehammer of concern and distress from Ray did. Egon must've delivered the message.
She looked up at him and gave him a taut smile. "Hi. So. Um. Hi." Yeah. Real good conversation there, Indigo. Want to try a two syllable word? "I just didn't want to break the ring," she blurted in a flurry. "I would never have taken it off otherwise, I swear, but I'm not sure where this's gonna stop. Or...or if it's gonna stop."
She leaned back and got on her knees, then onto her feet. She was a little taller than Ray, in her bare feet.
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"No, it's okay," he said as he realized she'd gone silent. "I mean- I would've thought you'd put it on a, you know, something around your neck like high school kids do with their rings, but if you didn't have something expanding or- are you okay? I mean, I don't know what's going on any more than Egon does, but you're not in physical pain or anything, are you?"
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"Well, yeah, ordinarily I would," Indigo assured him, speaking slowly to keep the quaver out of her voice. "But I've grown six inches since this morning. With an example like that to work from, I'm not sure the chain would've been that great an idea before long either."
"I'm...it doesn't hurt, no. I'm hungry. A good bit hungry. But it doesn't hurt."
At which point Indigo's limited sangfroid was exhausted, and she threw herself into Ray's arms.
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"I know," she whispered back, into his hair; such an odd feeling being the taller one. "We always do." Saying that somehow made her feel a little better. "We always will. It's just gonna be ...weird for a while, that's all. And we can handle weird, right?"
She looked down at him with a small, hopeful smile.
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She obligingly plopped back down onto the sand, leaving a space for Ray on the towel. Since her height was mostly in her legs, they were very nearly able to act like nothing was wrong while seated.
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There was a quiet pling! as a smaller PINPoint portal deposited Egon's promised junk food nearby.
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"Ray? Even if I minded how much weirder my life has become? Having you is more than worth whatever your world -- or the nexus -- throws at us."
Indigo glanced around at the sound of the portal popping. "Oh. Suzy Qs. Bless you, Egon." She reached for the packet, and offered Ray the other. She was hungry, but still, there were two so you could share them!
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That was true. Ray accepted the snack cake solemnly. "He knows his stuff, our Dr. Spengler," he said. "Be glad it's not Peter. He would've tried to get Domino's to deliver out here."
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Ray spoke again, and Indigo dissolved into a gale of laughter. "I'd have to be really hungry to eat Domino's. And honestly, if I wanted pizza, it's not like I couldn't hit the mainland and order some." The moment of mirth was short-lived, though, as Indigo confessed, "I'm just worried about what moving around too much will do. Egon hasn't figured out what's accelerating my growth yet."
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He nodded. "I'll pick up dinner for you if you want. He told me what his ideas were about that, but he's still a little confused about the possible specifics. I've got a few ideas myself, if you wanted to talk about them."
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"Dinner sounds good. Maybe something candlelit and romantic, here on the beach, at sunset?" Her expression went vaguely dreamy, before the matter at hand resurfaced in her head.
"Ideas would be better, I think. Something constructive rather than just sitting here fretting about why I seem to be growing six inches every few hours. Eiko says the jumpsuit'll stretch a good bit. Which is good, because I'm already too tall for most of my wardrobe...and it all looks silly now."
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"I think we can arrange something, sure... How long until sunset, anyway?"
But he nodded. "Okay. Egon suggested some form of curse, but I've seen the PKE numbers and they really don't match up with anything of that sort that I know. You don't appear to have attracted any deific attention lately beyond the common run of anybody in the Nexus, and you haven't cheesed anybody off that I know of who's capable of doing this. That sort of points to an entity that either isn't in the Nexus or doesn't announce itself being responsible, and the lack of a recognizable PKE signature points to the use of some kind of technology."
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She fell attentively silent as Ray spoke, then shook her head. "No. Hermes was a little ticked off at me, but his necklace still fits. It's growing with me. So I don't think I've irritated him enough that he's cursed me."
"And far as I know, I haven't done anything to tick anyone off. But I also have been skimming lately. It's so busy I can't possibly keep up with everything happening...so maybe I missed something. It'd be worth checking into. At least while I'm still within normal human size range and can check the browser on the PINPoint."
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