(Untitled)

[gone_byebye]

Ray makes his way into the Bar with Francis the robot dog at his heels. He's humming something cheerful to himself, and he's got a New York Aquarium hat on. Once again, someone pulled him aside and had a word with him before he left; he does not, in fact, smell like fish. It's Francis' rapid head-swiveling and flashing of the yellow eye-light that

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[not_that_spike]

He's just on his way back from a quick run while Beth and Beth Junior are napping; even new parents have to take care of themselves however they can. Water bottle firmly tucked under his arm and a bowl of strawberries balanced in the palm of his hand, the weird-shaped things catch his eye.

He can't resist.

"You move this piece to the side right here, and it would look like the cellullar structure of... oh, which one was that again? I think Bifidobacterium."

It's been a long fucking time since he had to examine one of those under a microscope. Funny what comes back to a guy when he's only getting sleep in two-hour batches.

[gone_byebye]

Ray looks up. "Would it? I've never been much good with biology. This is a model I was constructing for a dimensional-stacking project, but it does start to look a little organic after a while, doesn't it?"

[not_that_spike]

"I guess." He looks at the structure from top to bottom, then from bottom to top, then from left to right, then from right to left. "Uh... what's this dimensional-stacking thing supposed to do?"

He's heard of a hell of a lot of things and he's smart enough to surmise what it is and what it might be for easy enough, but it's always simpler when someone else does the telling. His mind is consumed by oh, good, sleep and baby's awake again and did we remember to eat yesterday? and I sure hope this place never runs out of diapers. Things like that.

"I mean, why would you want to make one?"

[gone_byebye]

"Short version? I'm trying to build a box that's five times larger on the inside than the outside, and I'm doing it because my fiancee has one on a much larger scale, but she's from a much more advanced planet than Earth and I'm not allowed to copy their technology, so I've got to do it myself." Pause. "I have too many books and need a place to put them all."

[zunarj59doric47]

There's a cat studying the construct.

It's possible he's also trying to gage whether there's enough room left on the table for him to jump up for a closer look.

[gone_byebye]

Ray looks up from poking at one of the pieces to ease it more into line with the rest of the structure, and then looks down. "Oh, hi," he says to the cat. "Anything I can do for you?"

He's quite used to the non-human population of the Bar being capable of speech around here, or at least being intelligent if not capable of communicating with humans. Garion giving him that amulet that let him communicate with non-humans in general hasn't changed that one bit.

Even if he didn't have it, he'd probably talk to the cat like that anyway.

[zunarj59doric47]

"Clue me in on what you're attempting there?"

Polite, curious voice. Sounding about the same age range as Ray, maybe a little younger.

"Either that, or can you tell me where exactly I am now?"

[gone_byebye]

"Well, mostly I'm trying to determine why certain elements of the structure seem to've phased into existence even though I haven't actually installed them yet," Ray says. "I'm building a box five times bigger on the inside than the outside, but the dimensional maths involved include dimension four, so I'm guessing those are the pieces I'm going to put in place next week when I finish. As for where you are, you're at Milliways, which is a bar at the chronological end of the Universe- nearly any Universe you care to name. It happens to people without warning, at least at first. My name's Ray. Would this be easier for you if you were up on the table? I can move my stuff."

[q_in_training]

Mac definitely does.

Well, okay, first she takes interest in the robot dog, because that's just cool. After that is the sculpture.

If she tilts her head any further in an effort to decipher it, she's going to end up upside down.

[gone_byebye]

Ray looks up and grins. "If I'm lucky, this is going to turn out to be a working prototype of a box that's five times bigger ont he inside than on the outside," he says. "Hi there."

[q_in_training]

"Nice." Approving, if surprised. "I know I could use one of those right about now."

And a smile as she straightens back up. "Hey, Ray."

[gone_byebye]

"My fiancee says I'm going to need way more room to keep my stuff if I keep adding books to my collection, so I figured I'd give it a try," Ray says. "She's got her own dimensional pocket, but her species's had mastery of that kind of technology for longer than there's been humans, so no big surprise. Hi, Mac. Long time no see."