( closed )

[shrinkage]

Who: Ray Palmer & various
Where: Various
When: Late September-November
Rating: PG13
Summary: Planned threads; follow-ups; request fulfillments; flood prevention; PM for a starter!
The Story:

--dig them up; let's finish what we've started. dig them up, so nothing's left untouched.

Comments

doc holliday | shooting range | last week of september

[shrinkage]

Without his suit, Ray’s left needing to hone his manual skills. Doc is a calming presence, but he also makes shooting look like it should come perfectly natural. Ray himself is a serviceable shot, having spent plenty of time around firearms (and even the ones Doc is most comfortable handling).

But he still whoops with excitement when Doc takes his turn to unleash on the moving targets. It's hard not to, because this feels like Doc in his element, finally.

“You know, most people just put up with me until I go away or change subjects,” Ray finally says after a particularly exhilarating round of trick shots. He moves back to his booth to get a few more static targets set up as he talks. He always talks too much, he know. But Doc actually listens, and lately that has made Ray more particular about his words.

“Not a lot of people treat me like you do.”

[wildwest]

If he thinks Doc's in his element now, he should make an effort to get stuck with him the next time there's a zombie hoard to fight off or anything of that sort which allows his particular skill set to flourish. Doc holds back a good portion of the time, and it's only in situations like Alexandria's zombie apocalypse does he allow himself to really let loose.

"You forget," he says casually between shots. They hit the target dead on with almost inhuman precision, one after the other. "I am not most people. The social atmosphere of your time is not what it was in mine."

Which is a nice way of saying that he finds a lot to be desired in the company millennials have to offer. He doesn't get them and they don't get him. And he's fine with that.

[shrinkage]

"Forget? If anything, I've never even considered it like that," Ray replies. And while Ray often brushes off moments when the offense is intended, Doc's words tend to stay with him to be thought over and earnestly considered. Yes, including potentially offensive ones.

His first shot nears the center of a target, but the next two land toward the edges. Serviceable, and with marked progress since they'd started, but still far from an expert. His training with Oliver had been largely focused on close combat, for the times a target got in close past his automatic long-range capabilities. Were this boxing, he'd maybe not look so inept.

"In the business world, you need to learn to look like you enjoy all of the boring things the old guard enjoys. Golf, and coffee, and sports teams. I guess it's easy to lose yourself in all that..."

[wildwest]

Ray's shot is improving. It's not what it could be, but it's getting there, and it's good that he's learning to rely on the sharpness of his own eyes and not whatever gizmo was ensuring that his shots would make their targets in that suit of his. It sucks that it's gone now, but one doesn't necessarily need a fancy suit of armor to protect or defend themselves.

"Business world?" A scoff. "I'm a doctor, not a lawyer. My interests are far more refined, and I would much rather lose myself in a good vintage than any of those so-called great American pastimes."

He also does not get the appeal of sports, especially the modern definition of.

[shrinkage]

"Hey, I'm with you. I prefer water and video games," he laughs. And while it's a joke to him, it's not actually something he finds to be funny. He'd had to mold himself to survive. Sometimes he wonders what he could be had he chosen not to.

A few more average shots, and Ray's switching targets again.

"At the time, it felt like what I was supposed to do. It took time travel and befriending a criminal to start appreciating my status as an outsider..."

gideon | workshop | first week of october

[shrinkage]

[ they tend to work in quiet circles around each other here. it's one of the rare moments ray doesn't babble to keep his company interested but is comfortable enough to focus on the work in front of them.

but eventually, ray will need a break. and whether gideon needs one too doesn't seem to matter. he always checks in to see if she's like something. and sometimes, like now, he fumbles because he has ulterior motives... ]

Hey, I'm gonna grab a snack and play some Witness for a little bit. Wanna come help me solve puzzles?

[waverides]

I believe that's what I already am doing.

( it's a rare joke and one that's incredibly subtle given that gideon kind of is solving puzzles in the work that she's helping ray do. but she knows the distinction between their work and this game and knows the significance of an offer to spend time with someone in a non-work setting. it has her turning from her work, taking a step towards him )

What will these puzzles entail?

[shrinkage]

[ he vocalizes a slow ha-ha in retaliation to her very terrible joke, but grins anyway. ]

Come sit, it's easier to show you. In this game, you're presumably a character exploring a deserted island and learning things about it through the abandoned systems that used to run it.

[waverides]

( gideon moves from where she'd been sitting, following him and sitting beside him )

It sounds similar to our situation here.

[shrinkage]

Right? But it's also the opposite.

[ he opens the game and talks as the opening plays through. ]

It never talks to you, but it teaches you how to solve it as you go.

[waverides]

( definitely the opposite. that is one thing that wonderland doesn't do )

What's the purpose of it? Or perhaps the final goal?

[shrinkage]

Hmm. I want to say probably to get off the island? But sometimes these are just about uncovering secrets...

[ secrets, gideon. you know. stuff you shouldn't keep from your family? ]

Still interested?

sarah weller | post-proposal, pre-wedding

[shrinkage]

Oh my gosh. [ just as they're about to drift off to sleep, ray sits up in bed, urgent and like he's about to bolt. some revelation has punched him directly in the chest. ] I don't want it back.

[blackbirdsing]

[ It's actually enough to scare the shit out of her just as she was dozing off. ]

What! What? Were you dreaming?

[ She reaches out, her hand kind of dead-fish flapping against his chest in what is sleepy reassurance. ]

Sleep.

[shrinkage]

[ he catches her hand with both of his and kisses it gomez-style until he's at her neck, tickling her into wakefulness. ]

Awake. Awake!

[blackbirdsing]

[ She can't help but laugh, squirming a little but not really to get away, and finally she rolls onto her back to look up at him. ]

Okay, I'm definitely awake. What's going on?

[shrinkage]

[ he's laughing with her, and rolling with her, and he stops perched over her on all fours. ]

I don't want to try to rebuild the ATOM here.

[blackbirdsing]

Oh. Well, that's okay. But why? What made you decide that?

[ She's looking up at him comfortably, hands resting at his hips. ]

[shrinkage]

You. Well-- us. This.

[ he pulls her left hand into his, fidgeting with the ring she'd accepted from him. ]

Getting to have this is... I don't need anything else.

helena g wells | roof | oct-2

[shrinkage]

[ he meets her as usual, in a place of her choosing, but when ray shows up this time he's smug. his smile is muted but knowing. he's not wearing the atom, but he still walks with the confidence of man wearing a super suit. ]

I figured it out.

[ relaxing the previous night apparently helped jostle around the things in his head? either way, ray makes himself comfy in a chair and watches helena with that smirk on his face. ]

I figured you out.

[tobelieve]

( it's certainly not the reaction that helena expects when ray walks out, and though she'd at first looked pleased to see him her expression turns a little more hesitant. what had he figured out? there were so many parts to her, so many secrets )

I didn't realise I was a puzzle.

( lies )

[shrinkage]

[ he hums, high and unconvinced. ]

Hmm, didn't you? I kind of don't buy that for a second, Helena. Cause at first, I couldn't put my finger on it. Something about you-- about your science was so familiar.

[tobelieve]

( she's not certain that she likes the sound of his accusation )

Now that sounds like something to be concerned about.

[shrinkage]

No! Gosh, if anything it's the opposite. Your designs, and the mechanics behind them? They're brilliant.

[ a compliment he genuinely means, except he's also forming that opinion out of the idea helena's working with a handicap. ]

Considering you're a century behind me, technologically.

[tobelieve]

Behind?

( oh there was definitely a scoff, excuse me and offense in that reaction. helena went fro being possibly charmed by him to incredibly offended )

And I suppose you have inventions of similar design in your century?