closed.

[heorte]

WHO: science nerds
WHAT: vibe check
WHEN: drakonis
WHERE: wysteria's haunted house
NOTES: all fine here.

There has yet to be a chemical fire today, so Ellis feels it's safe to spread his mending out on the side of the table Tony and Wysteria haven't covered with sheets of paper. He's been carefully repairing items of clothing over the course of the afternoon, and is presently meticulously reinforcing the seam at the shoulder. It's comfortable in Wysteria's ramshackle, lightly-haunted house, and Ellis has decided not to examine that too closely. (Once he does, this place will likely cease being comfortable for him at all.)

As he's worked, he's kept half an ear on the conversation. Most of the discussion is theoretical, touching on subjects he's familiar with but can't parse well enough to contribute. However, Ellis has developed an ear for the kinds of turns a conversation takes before it veers into dangerous territory, so it's best not to zone out completely.

"It sounds like you need a dwarf," he says, when their conversation hits a lull. "If you could persuade one of their artisans or smiths to work with you."

Comments

[heorte]

"I wasn't suggesting anything, really."

Though in hindsight, he absolutely sees where his phrasing veered directly towards suggestion rather than clarification. He also has the sense that the idea of a trip has already spun just far enough that he won't be able to easily reign it in. Whether or not he should—

"Dwarves have a way of conducting themselves, and they aren't much for change but they're skilled at smithing, among other things. That's what I meant to explain."

There's other things he could add: his time spent in the Deep Roads, the inevitability of him returning there sooner or later. He has the distinct sense Tony and Wysteria would find Orzammar a featBut instead, he looks away from Tony's expression and diverts his attention back to the collar of his tunic.

[heirring]

"Well yes, everyone knows that Mr. Ellis."

(You know, because fantasy racism reasons.)

Wysteria sets her cup and saucer aside on top of one of the stacks of disorganozed papers. "The question is what we might trade for some Orzammar dwarf's assistance. Or consultation, I suppose. If you have any suggestions for what we should bring with us when we go, then now would be the time to make them."

When they go.

[propulsion]

"And you can set up an introduction," Tony says, having picked up a spare square of paper while Wysteria was speaking, folding it in long diagonal patterns, smoothing the creases between his fingers. "Right? If you know artisans and smiths who never come to the surface."

But Ellis is pretending that he's doing sewing, so Tony deploys the paper airplane he's fashioned. It arcs, nose dives straight down into Ellis's business, as intended.

"Hey. What were you doing in Dwarf Town anyway?"

[heorte]

When they go. Funny how fast that happened.

"I'll introduce you both. It'll help if I'm there. You should bring them that...what do you call it? Zip?"

It's a little bit of a joke. But who knows? It might be something. The bit of metal securing the bag Fitz had arrived in was interesting enough, even if it wasn't a weapon. The artisans might take the idea and run with it. Ellis spears the needle through the collar of his tunic and sits back in his chair. His gaze flicks up to Tony as he lifts the airplane, then drops as he turns the construction over in his fingers.

"The last time I was there, it was on Warden business. There's an entrance in Orzammar I needed to use," he says, running a finger along the wing. There are details omitted: the broken bones, the places where his armor had been dented so deeply it had been difficult to draw breath, the grind of stone as Meino had hauled him bodily through the gates. "But it wasn't the first time. Wardens have regular business there. I can make it easier for you two to negotiate."

[heirring]

"Oh, the Deep Roads," Wysteria remarks, shifting some paper around until she finds her pen. A note about the zipper is jot down in some unrelated margin; that's a good idea. "I don't think I'd realized Orzammar had a proper entrance to them."

She didn't realize there were proper entrances to that place at all - just unofficial places where the tunnels had been cracked open, or old abandoned doors or—

[propulsion]

'Warden business'. Tony's mouth quirks to the side at the ambiguity, more noting it for later than feeling impulse to dissect the meaning behind it right this second. They have more pressing matters to discuss, such as--

"It's all in the wrist," he says, nodding to the paper plane in Ellis's hands. He brings his own hand up to demonstrate. "Keep it parallel to the ground. Like throwing a dart. How often did Warden business take you into the Deep Roads?"

[heorte]

"I'll find you a book about dwarven civilization," Ellis promises Wysteria, as he mimics Tony's motions. A few false starts, then the plane drunkenly arcs across the table to an inelegant skid past Tony's knee, settling in front of Wysteria.

"A fair amount," he answers, delicate. The turn in conversation exacerbates the gnawing sense of...shame, maybe. It's the kind of guilt that comes from a job left undone and ignored; Ellis has been in Kirkwall for long months, and he isn't so sure he shouldn't be ranging across Thedas or delving back underground with whatever Wardens aren't tangled in affairs in the Anders or elsewhere. "I was part of a few expeditions meant to explore the lost thaigs."

Regardless of what Alistair had said, Ellis finds it hard to shake the inclination towards secrecy. But still, talking about exploration veers away from what exactly they'd been looking for and the clusters of darkspawn they'd encountered. One is easier to discuss in Wysteria's warm, cluttered kitchen than the other.

[heirring]

Is there a very small, warm glance in Ellis' direction at the mention of books? Maybe. Who can say. It is very brief. But at the mention of the thaigs, Wysteria's attention comes all the way up from her absent note taking and general paper shuffling.

"Expeditions, you say? Why Mister Ellis, I had no idea you had such a history of being integral to academic research prior to this point. You really should have said something before now."