Victory Road IC Inbox

[neverstudied]

"Hey, this is Dr. Peter Venkman- I'm probably busy. If you're calling about something stupid done by a Dr. Egon Spengler or a Dr. Ray Stantz, I'm sorry for whatever they did. Leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can."

Comments

[pkemeter]

Then it will be just me.

[Don't test him.]

[neverstudied]

and then you dont get to see winston

and i'm pretty sure the three of us going off on our own and leaving you the odd one out is the last thing you want, isn't it.

[It's hard to get a read for tone over text, but that sentence feels infinitely more serious than the rest of this conversation. Hello Egon you've fallen into his psychology trap.]

[pkemeter]

[Egon knows exactly what Venkman is pulling here, but that doesn't mean he has to like it. It also ends up cutting a little deeper than Venkman probably intends, but hell if Egon is going to say anything about it.]

No.

[There's a pause between texts.]

Winston would complain.

[neverstudied]

yeah. winston would complain

because he loves you. even if you're not the same egon he knew back home, and even if he hasn't met you yet

and you love him.

[It's early February all over again. It's Venkman's stupid half-buried insecurities related to Bill Murray again. Except Egon's even worse about emotional shit than Venkman is.]

[pkemeter]

[Egon wants to ask something along the lines of, "but how do you know?". For all the probable certainties in the world, there are an equal amount of uncertanties. But that'd be opening up a can if worms he's not willing to open at any time. He'll just put the can neatly in its pre-labeled box and tuck it in his mental filing cabinet. It would be irrational to worry about such inconsequential things, after all.

The day all those cans get set loose is the day the apocalypse begins.

It takes him another few minutes to respond.]

Yes. Ray would complain as well. And both of them would eventually get you to retrieve me, with time.




It occurs to me that I haven't actually informed Winston of my appearance.

[neverstudied]

[By virtue of being himself, Venkman intermittently strolls up to that cabinet and violently shakes it in the hopes of dislodging a few of those cans of worms. Occasionally, he succeeds and opening up one or two as they crash onto the metaphorical floor. And usually, they're tucked away neatly again within minutes. That's fine. He's not stopping any time soon. He's spent fifteen years on this task- what's another fifteen?]

i told him a bit of what to expect

namely, that you're still egon, just with a different hair color

shockingly, that knowledge didnt dissuade him from wanting to see you

[Something in the back of his mind reminds Venkman of how much he'd despise the thought of his hair color being the only difference between him and his alternate self. He puts that thought on his own mental cabinet of "shit we're not unpacking today".]

[pkemeter]

[Good thing that Egon doesn't seem too bothered by that. Being self-aware isn't exactly a trait that Egon is known for.]

Ah. Thank you.

I greatly look forward to seeing you both soon. If you have the time, could you ask Winston for a cheek swab sample? Maybe some scans to record his neural oscillations?

Actually, don't do that. I'll do it when I get there.

[His temporary sadness is immediately overridden by his innate curiosity of other dimensions and the strange things that occur due to this dimension being a sort of nexus for other worlds. Egon knows how to handle himself. Most of the time. It's why he's survived this long.]

[neverstudied]

i know you will you fucking nerd

im not making any promises that i wont cross contaminate the samples by making out with him before you swab him though. you cant stop me

[i hate that i had to look up whether or not kissing could skew a dna sample for this.

As for Egon and Venkman's various Alternate Dimension Issues, it seems those will yet again go completely unresolved.]

[pkemeter]

[It's fine.]

I'll keep that in mind. Though I doubt I'll be obtaining a sample immediately after you were to kiss Winston.

Ray and I will see you soon.

[neverstudied]

just saying im pretty sure you wont have a lot of opportunities to swab him without any cross contamination risk for a looong time

because im kissing him at every single opportunity

if that wasnt obvious

... love you too spengs. see you soon