1. [text]

[yousayyes]

[As Winston's second day at sea starts, he feels the distinct creeping anxiety of his mind preoccupying itself with worry over what could be happening back home in his absence.]

[Normally, he'd try reading to pass the time and keep his mind busy from those thoughts- but Mom only packed him two books, and he's already read through both of them cover-to-cover multiple times by now. ...he started to realize somewhere in the middle of his fifth re-read of the trainer's guide that he wasn't actually working to absorb the information. By that point, he was just glancing down at the turning pages to feel some amount of productivity as he's stuck waiting for the cruise ship to reach Kanto.]

[Setting the books back in his bag, Winston opens his Pokégear, thumbing through its features until he reaches a text posting option. ...it can't hurt to put something out there, right?]

Hi.

Current events outside of my control have left me temporarily unemployed, seeing as I'm now stuck in a different dimension from my former workplace.

I know- we've ALL been there before... /endsarcasm

While I'm sure my coworkers will be understanding of the situation and leave my spot open until I return... I don't see that reunion happening anytime soon. So in the meantime: if anyone could point me towards a job listing in the Kanto area, I would appreciate it a lot.

Many thanks.

- Winston Zeddemore

Comments

[yousayyes]

[Well this a much better response than he could've expected. Winston calls him back nearly immediately upon hearing his message.]

Ray! ...Ray, it's me! [His voice is a bit shaky, and sounds like it would be more excited if there wasn't still some residual panic in his system.] I don't know what happened- I just woke up in a house here like a day ago. Where did you end up?

[ghoststanning]

[Ray whines slightly. Not as much as Venkman would but he wanted to see him!]

Winston why did you go on the boat? The others and I are in Violet City! It'll take us forever to reach you again.

[yousayyes]

The others-? [Winston's voice raises, with a conflicted mix of hope and fear, knowing they've all been sent here together... well, apart. But they're still all here at the same time.]

[...his voice cuts off abruptly for a while. Almost like the call dropped. But no, Winston is just trying to process this new bit of information. And the first conclusion he comes to is:]

So... nobody's at the firehouse.

[ghoststanning]

Well... considering that you didn't notice us gone for the past 8 months, I think it's safe to say that the dimension we're in has a temporal flux! And if that's the case, making sure someone's back in the firehouse should be the least of our concerns!

Besides, Janine's still there.

[yousayyes]

It's... it's a shame about Janine, but- I guess if you were here for eight months and I didn't know it, then that must mean time doesn't play by the same rules across dimensions-

...oh my god, you were here for eight months.

[ghoststanning]

Eight whole months, Win! I miss you so much.

[He honestly sounds so sad right now. You hurt him, Winston.]

I have so many children now and none of them have been able to meet you.

[yousayyes]

[Winston's... not sure if he's referring to actual human children or not. Obviously, eight months isn't long enough to have one kid let alone "so many", but he knows Ray would be one to adopt, anyway, so that point's irrelevant. ...and given who Ray is, "his children" could mean the new gadgets he's been able to build in this world.]

[All of that aside-]

...sorry. Sounds like I've got a lot to catch up on with you... again.

[Ever the latecomer, aren't you, Win.]

[ghoststanning]

Hey, you don't need to apologize! You're here now, aren't you? Besides the nice part about being here after we've settled in is that you can take full advantage of Venkman being rich now!

Also we came here on Christmas Eve and as fun as this dimension is, it wasn't exactly fun to be camping out in the freezing cold with barely any food and just a sweater to wear.

[yousayyes]

[Looks like this universe wanted Winston to have a fun late-summer early-fall vacation... but that doesn't stop his tone from remaining pretty dismal over the phone.]

I'm... I know you said not to apologize, but I'm sorry you had to go through that- and during the holidays, too...

[He sighs, falling silent for a moment again.]

...do you know where he's getting the money from. Because I wouldn't be too quick to celebrate about Peter's cash unless I know how legal that tender is.

[ghoststanning]

Oh don't worry! It was kinda romantic cuddling up against Egon during cold nights.

[Romance = trying not to die, I guess.]

Oh yeah! There's a Pokemon that produces free money! I'm... pretty sure it's legal! I've never heard of anyone say that it wasn't legal, after all!

[It's fine don't worry about it.]

[yousayyes]

So Peter can just print money whenever he wants.

[...]

...and that hasn't singlehandedly wrecked this world's economy how.

[ghoststanning]

I dunno! But we don't gotta worry about going broke here so that's nice!

[Don't think about it Win it's fine.]