WHO: Fitz, Lukas, Sahren, Caspar & misc WHAT: Lots of things WHEN: Whenever WHERE: Lots of places NOTES: Open and closed starters for the month, feel free to DM or hit me up at awarewolf on plurk to plot!
Impatience flashes across Ellis' face, though it isn't really fair to Fitz. Had no one warned him about the perils of using the front door? Ellis had learned the hard way, so it seems that's just how people are introduced to Wysteria's household.
"No, quickly into—"
But before he can clarify, a small porcelain pony whips through the air and shatters on the doorframe.
"Quickly," Ellis repeats, gesturing intensely into the house.
i'll drop a landmine in this thread so you're forced to make bold choices
"What," again, although this time it sounds more like an accusation. Also: still not moving, quickly or otherwise. His gaze tracks the pony as it whizzes into the door frame, then the shattered bits as they scatter across the ground at his and Ellis' feet.
"What the hell— is someone joking?"
Playing a prank on the new guy makes more sense than ghosts, though he hasn't assumed ghosts yet (because ghosts aren't real), so unsure what kind of joke throwing things at his head is. He can't see anybody past Ellis and Tony Stark would probably have more advanced pranks, but he also woke up in another dimension. All bets are off.
"I keep trying to get rid of the porcelain," Ellis says, as if that explains anything.
A snowglobe sails past Fitz's head and to explode a shower of glass and glitter across the front steps. Ellis, clearly having reached the end of his patience, reaches over to grab Fitz's elbow and haul him bodily forward.
"It usually leaves us alone when we get to the back of the house. I think it's protective of the sitting room."
Not that it's kept from throwing plates in the kitchen, but Ellis suspects that's just self-defense. Wysteria has been setting more small fires lately.
"Walk quickly. If we lag it'll throw an end table."
Cut off by the snowglobe and being hauled through the doorway, but it's easy to guess where it was going. Fitz gives the end table down the hallway a distrustful look, then he yanks his elbow away from Ellis and strides past him down the hall. He's got enough sense to wait until he's through a doorframe (and at the back of the house, presumably) to stop and wheel on Ellis.
"If you tell me this bloody house is haunted, I'm—," pause for breath, forcing calm for a very serious: "Don't."
"Alright, I won't tell you," Ellis replies briskly, also looking back warily to be sure no other items are going to be flung through the doorway after him. It's only happened once, but Ellis doesn't pretend to predict what Wysteria's flatmate is capable of when the mood strikes.
"Now," Ellis says, crossing the room to push his own abandoned chair back into place at the table and close the book he'd been reading. "Why are you here?"
Not more comforting, actually. Fitz doesn't look particularly appeased; he shoots another wary look down the corridor, now quiet, before reluctantly following Ellis across the room to stand across from him at the table.
"I've got your socks," he says, regrettably. There's an awkward pause before he retrieves them from the pocket of his coat and tosses them onto the closed book. "And Wysteria invited me over. Is she not here?"
"There's a compound she's attempting. I don't know the details, but I wanted to be on hand to put out the fire."
Will there be a fire? Probably. Wysteria had sworn up and down that there was no possibility, but Ellis knows better after several situations where he'd been caught unprepared.
"Did you want to see her, or did she promise you a tour first?"
Fire isn't a word so much as a disgruntled expression. He gives the ceiling a suspicious glance — difficult not to imagine some kind of Frankenstein lab in the attic or the basement, given the state of this world and this specific neighborhood. Not so much the state of Wysteria, but maybe a little bit the state of Wysteria.
"Is the bloody ghost coming?"
The delivery's more petty than panicked. He's not scared!!! But that's a yes to a tour.
Maybe they should have attempted to ease Fitz into this, but Ellis finds it's better to just unfurl all the questionable and dangerous events at once while they aren't all happening at once. Yes, the ghost will throw things. Yes, Wysteria will start small chemical fires. The house has survived thus far, so onwards and upwards.
"It's hard to say what will hold the ghost's interest, but it's best to assume it'll be coming along."
Though Ellis seems undecided as to where exactly they should head first. He spends a few seconds just idly shuffling papers on the table into some semblance of order before he points at the second door.
"We can start there. Second floor, then third if nothing's happened."
How many floors does Wysteria's house have? Unclear.
"Fantastic," he says, which sounds like the worst. It isn't patience that bears Fitz out for those few indecisive moments of shuffling papers around so much as a willingness to delay the inevitable. It's about to run out, all the same; Ellis points towards the door in the nick of time.
"If—"
The disbelief is too intense to verbalize, apparently, but the look he shoots Ellis gets it across nicely. Another clipped breath, eyes briefly closing in an effort to get centered. "Fine. But you first."
If anyone's getting ambushed by the ghost headed through a doorway, it's not going to be him.
It's not like Ellis doesn't fully understand the emotions Fitz is experiencing right now. That's partly why he isn't trying to soften the truth. It lessens the potential for surprise down the road. (Though in fairness, Wysteria and Tony will always find a way to surprise him, so what's the point?) Nevertheless, Ellis goes through the doorway first.
"Skip the third step. It squeaks, and I think the ghost resents the sound."
But somehow not what Wysteria gets up to in the kitchen?
"We're still cleaning it out. When she..." How did Wysteria get the house? Ellis still isn't clear. "When she inherited it, it was filled with more broken furniture than you can imagine. I kept aside what's interesting, but there's still more to go through."
Ellis glances over his shoulder meaningfully as they clear the landing. Welcome to that task, Fitz.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
not jealous of your timeline gymnastics right now tbh
He says, very dumbly and not especially quickly. Fitz gives the coat rack a confused look before turning the same look back to Ellis.
"Quickly through the side entrance, or—"
By quick you meant go nowhere and ask for clarification, right.
live footage of me https://i.imgur.com/nWH601q.jpg
"No, quickly into—"
But before he can clarify, a small porcelain pony whips through the air and shatters on the doorframe.
"Quickly," Ellis repeats, gesturing intensely into the house.
i'll drop a landmine in this thread so you're forced to make bold choices
"What the hell— is someone joking?"
Playing a prank on the new guy makes more sense than ghosts, though he hasn't assumed ghosts yet (because ghosts aren't real), so unsure what kind of joke throwing things at his head is. He can't see anybody past Ellis and Tony Stark would probably have more advanced pranks, but he also woke up in another dimension. All bets are off.
(Except ghosts being fake. That bet's still on.)
i'm ready for the drama
A snowglobe sails past Fitz's head and to explode a shower of glass and glitter across the front steps. Ellis, clearly having reached the end of his patience, reaches over to grab Fitz's elbow and haul him bodily forward.
"It usually leaves us alone when we get to the back of the house. I think it's protective of the sitting room."
Not that it's kept from throwing plates in the kitchen, but Ellis suspects that's just self-defense. Wysteria has been setting more small fires lately.
"Walk quickly. If we lag it'll throw an end table."
no subject
Cut off by the snowglobe and being hauled through the doorway, but it's easy to guess where it was going. Fitz gives the end table down the hallway a distrustful look, then he yanks his elbow away from Ellis and strides past him down the hall. He's got enough sense to wait until he's through a doorframe (and at the back of the house, presumably) to stop and wheel on Ellis.
"If you tell me this bloody house is haunted, I'm—," pause for breath, forcing calm for a very serious: "Don't."
no subject
"Now," Ellis says, crossing the room to push his own abandoned chair back into place at the table and close the book he'd been reading. "Why are you here?"
What's caused this man to brave the front rooms?
no subject
"I've got your socks," he says, regrettably. There's an awkward pause before he retrieves them from the pocket of his coat and tosses them onto the closed book. "And Wysteria invited me over. Is she not here?"
no subject
Ellis sounds tired.
"There's a compound she's attempting. I don't know the details, but I wanted to be on hand to put out the fire."
Will there be a fire? Probably. Wysteria had sworn up and down that there was no possibility, but Ellis knows better after several situations where he'd been caught unprepared.
"Did you want to see her, or did she promise you a tour first?"
no subject
Fire isn't a word so much as a disgruntled expression. He gives the ceiling a suspicious glance — difficult not to imagine some kind of Frankenstein lab in the attic or the basement, given the state of this world and this specific neighborhood. Not so much the state of Wysteria, but maybe a little bit the state of Wysteria.
"Is the bloody ghost coming?"
The delivery's more petty than panicked. He's not scared!!! But that's a yes to a tour.
no subject
"It's hard to say what will hold the ghost's interest, but it's best to assume it'll be coming along."
Though Ellis seems undecided as to where exactly they should head first. He spends a few seconds just idly shuffling papers on the table into some semblance of order before he points at the second door.
"We can start there. Second floor, then third if nothing's happened."
How many floors does Wysteria's house have? Unclear.
no subject
"If—"
The disbelief is too intense to verbalize, apparently, but the look he shoots Ellis gets it across nicely. Another clipped breath, eyes briefly closing in an effort to get centered. "Fine. But you first."
If anyone's getting ambushed by the ghost headed through a doorway, it's not going to be him.
no subject
"Skip the third step. It squeaks, and I think the ghost resents the sound."
But somehow not what Wysteria gets up to in the kitchen?
"We're still cleaning it out. When she..." How did Wysteria get the house? Ellis still isn't clear. "When she inherited it, it was filled with more broken furniture than you can imagine. I kept aside what's interesting, but there's still more to go through."
Ellis glances over his shoulder meaningfully as they clear the landing. Welcome to that task, Fitz.