just a simple question | voice

[ordinarily]

Where are the burgers?

[ This is the voice of a very distressed teenager. Very distressed. ]

I get that it's the space future, but the nurse was lying when she said they don't serve meat. Right?

[ Silence. ]

... Right?

Comments

[unrecovered]

[What the fuck is this kid's life]

Because the ghosts made one, because your parents made another, or because someone else decided to copycat?

[ordinarily]

You know, it was very hard for me to not just say "yes" this time, but my parents only ever made the one portal.

[ Which means it's the other two. ]

[unrecovered]

Well, your life sounds fun.

You should exchange war stories with Ghostbuster. I'm sure he'll be fascinated.

[ordinarily]

... With a codename like that, he'd kind of have to be.

[unrecovered]

Speaking of names, I don't think you ever said yours.

[ordinarily]

... Right.

[ Danny's so on the fence about his name choice. Granted, it's better than Inviso-Bill, because everything is. But it was also just the first thing that popped into his mind, and it... reminded him of every villain he ever fought. ]

Ghost Boy. You can probably guess what kind of powers I got.

[unrecovered]

[Oh God. Oh hell. He hasn't run into one that bad since Yuri's chosen code name, and he knows for a fact that Mr. Ice Guy is completely Dave's fault. This...hoo boy.]

I meant your actual name, but okay...

Also, the Time Trapper's kind of a jerk when it comes to powers, so I can't say I'm surprised.

[ordinarily]

Oh, my name's Danny. Sorry, I was thinking about codenames, so...

[unrecovered]

I'm Wash, codename Freelancer.

[...there's no good way to do this. There's just. No good way to do this, and goddammit that's not going to stop Wash from trying.]

Is Ghost Boy set in stone, or is that a placeholder?

[legionnpcs]

Ghost Boy fits in with the finest naming traditions of the Legion, like Saturn Girl and Cosmic Boy.

[ PRIVATE TO WASH ]

And he is absolutely in the system as Invisi-Bill until he gets talked into something better.

[unrecovered]

And Mr. Ice Guy?

[Look at that sarcasm. Look at it.]

[Screened to Babbage]

Holy shit, Babbage, what'd he ever do to you?

[But he's laughing, just a bit. He really should feel bad about picking on the new kid, but damn if Babbage isn't amazing sometimes.]

[legionnpcs]

At least he matches his boyfriend?

[ Private to Wash ]

You can't say it's not better.

My only regret is that Beeny checks the duty roster too often for me to make Legal Eagle official.

[whyarewehere]

That doesn't make those good names and you know it.

[legionnpcs]

At least they can't be smashed into a catchy ship portmanteau as easily.

[ordinarily]

... I'm open to suggestions.

[unrecovered]

I don't know, Phantom?

[...so Wash is really bad at this.]

Just not Spectre. That's taken, and you don't want the associations.

[ordinarily]

[ If only you had any idea. ]

Phantom, huh?

... Why Phantom?

[gonebyebye]

Oh, I definitely am. Ghostbuster here, but my real name is Dr. Ray Stantz

[ordinarily]

[ The "Doctor" part caught Danny's attention. ]

... Wait, hang on.

Are you a paranormal researcher?

Not ghost hunter, specifically paranormal researcher.

[gonebyebye]

Mostly the latter, although there's been a lot of the former. The perils of running an ectoplasmic containment business that occasionally dukes it out with gods.

Hunter is something of a misnomer, though. It sort of implies I try to catch every ghost I come across.

[ordinarily]

[ Danny has mixed feelings about this. Mostly because Danny doesn't know if Ray is like his parents, or like the GiW. ]

... I feel like you'd have a field day in my home town.

[gonebyebye]

Depends on how much spectral activity remained after the rest of the Ghostbusters and I shut down your portal and smacked your parents for building it in the first place. Something like that is just asking for trouble.

[ordinarily]

[ Welp. Button pushed. ]

Hey. It's not like they meant for that to happen. They still made a Ghost Portal, that's gotta be considered, like... genius or something, right?

[gonebyebye]

It is, no question. I'd love to get a look at their notes sometime. But that doesn't mean it's not more than a little irresponsible to build something like that. Especially in a house with kids. And this is coming from a guy who walks around with a nuclear accelerator on his back.

[ordinarily]

... Okay, two things:

One: It's not like my parents don't take care of the ghosts that come through. We have plenty of stuff to catch them, and send them back. And just because the portal is on, doesn't mean it's open.

Two: Nuclear accelerator?