...maybe he's used to it, but that doesn't make him feel any better.

[thegreatmachine]

It's a hell of a thing to have someone try to kill you.

You're standing there, you're talking, and some nutjob pulls a bow and arrow--a bow and arrow--and tries to pull a bad impression of William Tell. He was still grinning as he turned to Wylie... but that doesn't mean it isn't hitting him where it hurts

Comments

[gone_byebye]

Ray's been busy outside for a while now; he's just coming in from saber practice. For him, this means emptying all his pockets of everything non-essential, so for once the only tech he's carrying is the lightsaber- which is, of course, powered off- and the training drone, which is in passive powered-down sleep mode. "Bar," he says when he gets in, "could I get something in the way of yerba mate for gringos, please?"

If tea smelled like freshly-cut grass, that's what the stuff in his cup would be.

"Thanks."

[thegreatmachine]

He gets a wave from Mitchell. A distracted one.

[gone_byebye]

Ray looks up and waves. "Hey," he says. "How's it going?"

Normally we'd leave it there and attribute the coming scene to Ray's general lack of cluefulness about body kinesics, but he does have the sense to look at people's drink selections once in a while.

"... oh, boy. Long day at work?"

[thegreatmachine]

"Assassination attempt."

...normally, he's much more chatty. It's a habit of the Office, always feeling the need to explain if he can as he'd always worked to keep a very transparent Gracie Mansion, so to speak. But right now, he's on word rations. And it's not from the booze.

[gone_byebye]

This? Is Ray's ouch face.

"Oh, man. I'm sorry. I- okay, I'll just... I'll leave you to your drink."

If it's that recent, he's probably not going to want to talk about it. Not yet, and maybe not for a long time.

Ray's a little more familiar with the prospect than he would like.

[thegreatmachine]

"Fucking bow and arrow," he grumbles.

[gone_byebye]

"... well, that's one way around the ballistics question."

[thegreatmachine]

He looks sideways at Ray.

"Have I ever actually explained why all your electronics shut off when I'm around, Mister Stantz?"

Sip.

[gone_byebye]

"I don't believe you have, no," says Ray, who would ordinarily correct most people to 'Doctor' instead of 'Mister', but who is not about to be a jerk to a guy who just had his life put in danger. "I assumed you were one of those unfortunates whose nervous systems put off an interference field- the ones who can shut off lamp posts by walking past them."

[thegreatmachine]

He sips at the booze again.

"They're all pretty advanced," he says, "so most of them? Are snooty as hell. And it's annoying. So I tell them to go to sleep to save my head."

Beat.

"Sorry about the secrecy," he says with a shrug. "It's just... the idea I can talk about this stuff is still a little weird to me. And I did sign confidentiality agreements back home. I just--"

He shakes his head and nurses the drink between his hands. One sort of starts gesturing.

"Hence the bow and arrow."

[gone_byebye]

"Oh," says Ray. "A variant form of cyberpathy. Okay. Not a problem. I'll empty my pockets before I come near you again, then- I carry too much stuff anyway. My apologies."

Ray sort of takes all the wrong things in stride.

[thegreatmachine]

He shakes his head.

"It's all right. Don't worry about it. I'm just--"

He doesn't even know. Shot at. With bow and arrow. There's a lot of things he can do the water off the back thing. He's having trouble with this one.

[gone_byebye]

"Believe it or not, I know," Ray says quietly. "Which is why I'm not gonna say anything else, unless you feel like talking."

[thegreatmachine]

He shrugs.

"What am I going to say? I took the job knowing, well, hell, no one knows how much work it is till you're in place, you know? But I did this to myself. And I love it. Just some days..."

[gone_byebye]

"Some days the part of New York that scares the rest of the country spitless comes out, and you never see it coming," says Ray. "And then you wonder what the heck you were thinking, and what's supposed to happen now."

[thegreatmachine]

"There are whackjobs the likes of which the rest of the world has never seen," he agrees with a grin and a sip. "I like to think my city can boast the best of everything. Unfortunately, that's included."