Housewarming, housebreaking

[raavashing]

Characters: Residents of MU-HAO
Date: June 26th, when they get home for the day
Location: MU-HAO
Situation: New flatmate is a disney princess
Warnings/Rating: None

When Zatanna Zatara, Jack Frost, or Armin Arlert get home on the 26th - at whatever point they individually get home - they will find much the same situation each time. All the lower floor windows are open and a rather large gathering of the local wildlife (birds mostly) have congregated within the lower level living space. What furniture is around may have a surprise sitting on it in the form of birds, rodents, or their droppings from when they were there earlier. And crumbs.

Lots of crumbs.

Crumbs being fought over at times.

If the kitchen is inspected, it seems that all the bread in the house is gone. All of it. Anything with bread on it, has been stripped of it's breading and the remains carefully packed back up. The rest of the food has not been raided as of yet.

This small avian army with the random ground support seems to be concentrated outside the formerly empty upper bedroom, which also is now softly lit from within. Should this oddity be followed up on, they will find their new flatmate sitting on the floor next to his new bed, quietly passing out breaded crumbs to the animals gathered there. Somehow enforcing rules of fairness and sharing with his soft smile and murmured words that everyone should share because there was plenty for everyone.

Comments

[strategisch]

"I'm ho-- oh goodness."

As Armin opens the front door, several rodent-y creatures run outside, and he skips around to avoid stepping on any of them. That's his first cue that something might be wrong. Looking in-- holy crap, he's never seen such a mess in his life. It's like someone just let a plague of rats into the grainery. Did he leave those windows open this morning? If so, he's going to have a lot of explaining to do to Zatanna and Jack...

But he notices the mob around the room upstairs that should be empty. There was some trickery going on here. Armin leaves his shoes on, because he doesn't want to step in anything bare footed, and goes to see what's up.

He peeks in to see the Avatar version of St. Francis of Assisi.

"Um, hello?"

How did this person get in? Was he a new roommate? Armin hadn't been informed... And were the vermin a package deal? He keeps having to lift his feet to let animals in and out, and birds keep landing on him to peck at his blonde hair. He'd be perturbed if he wasn't so dumfounded.

[raavashing]

Many of the animals scattered to allow Armin to pass, but they were far too bold with the fulfilled promise of food that Wan had given them over the last few hours to care about his actual presence. Wan, on the other hand, looked up in surprise, having lost track of the time while making his new friends.

The next moment he scattered the last of the treats he had in his hands to the floor, which drew all the animals to it. Including the few birds that had decided Armin made a fine perch. The young man stood and moved away from the free-for-all to give himself enough space to bow in greeting.

"Hello," he said kindly before straightening and then looking around sheepishly. "I was sure this was the room they said was mine. Did I get it wrong?"

[strategisch]

Armin bows back a little, having grown used to the custom from the Kedan. Despite the disastrous mess, Wan seems like a perfectly nice person, and it brightens Armin's disposition towards him. Plus, he got those pesky birds to stop trying to find nibbles in his hair.

"This is Mu-Hao, so if that is what you were told, then yes, you're in the right place," he replies, offering Wan a small smile, "I'm Armin, and I live here too. What's your name?"

He'll deal with the pet problem in a second.

[raavashing]

"My name is Wan," He replied, still a little confused. "Do we share this room or just the lower floor?"

[strategisch]

"No, this room is just for you. My other roommates here and I all have our own personal rooms as well, and we share the space below."

"This, um..." Armin gestures to the animals literally all around him, "are these your pets, or do animals just follow you around...?"

Heck, he didn't know, it could be some sort of power or magic that Wan had no control over. It wouldn't be the weirdest thing he's seen on the turtle.

[raavashing]

That was a relief. With how the guy had come in all confused looking, Wan thought he'd made a critical error about which bedroom he'd been given.

The smile returned to his face and he laughed the question off, "No. I just invited a few in because they were hungry and then some of their friends came and then more of their friends... and then it got like this. The animals around here are really friendly. I like them."

[strategisch]

Nah, he was just confused because the flat looks like it's gone through a bread crumb and bird-poop tsunami. And he barely seems to notice. Armin wants to get off on the right foot with Wan, so he has to approach this gently.

"Oh... How did you know? Can you talk to them?"

[raavashing]

"Anyone can talk to an animal." Another laugh as he clearly didn't understand the hint he was being given. "But mostly I know because of well, how friendly they are."

Wan gestured at the gaggle of animals. They were standing around mostly getting along and not attacking either of the two of them. So, yeah... friendly.

[backwordscompatible]

Zatanna stood in the doorway. Tired, but definitely still awake. Or so she thought.

She blinked once.

Twice.

"...did Baby Tooth throw a party while we were out?"

[raavashing]

A couple birds picking at some crumbs that somehow had gone unnoticed until now looked over at the doorway when Zatanna spoke. Then returned to their dining, completely unconcerned with the arrival of someone new. The house was theirs now.

[backwordscompatible]

That's what they thought....

Tentatively, the young magician took a step inside. Closing the door behind her with a soft click. She glanced around for any tell-tale signs of the little fairae's influence, and found none.

"Never a dull moment around here." She smiled weakly to herself. Zatanna was usually a fan of animals. Wild animals, even. But she preferred to know where they came from before making friends. "How did you two even get in?" The window, would have been her first guess.

[raavashing]

Well, with all the windows open, it was as good a guess as any. As for who opened those windows... that would be the guy dressed in well worn vaguely-kimono styled robe and pants that would probably serve winter weather better than summer. He came into view from around the corner of the living room that led to the courtyard door, softly shooing the various rodents and birds out of the way. Most of which ended up following him in what was no longer a small procession. To the newcomer's credit, he was trying to shoo them all out the windows.

He just wasn't very good at getting them to listen after having fed them all. They looked to him for food now. And they wanted more freebies.

[backwordscompatible]

And suddenly, there was a hippie in their apartment.

Now, to Zatanna's credit, she didn't exactly panic. Anything of hers that was worth protecting was shielded by her Ward in her room, which even Armin wouldn't have been able to get in if he tried (sorry, Armin). But she did raise a seriously suspicious eyebrow as she rose to her feet from a previous kneeling position.

"Cinderella, I presume?"

It was a weak reference, and one that people unfamiliar with certain fairy tales might not even get. But that was besides the point.

The point was that there was a strange guy in a bathrobe surrounded by animals acting like he lived there.

1/2

[raavashing]

He looked over, surprised. Then his face lit up and he hurried over, "Hi! I'm Wan. I just got here today and this is the house I was given. Do you live here, too?"

[raavashing]

A moment later, he looked away, sheepishly eyeing all the animals around, "Sorry about the mess. I was trying to get it cleaned up just now because Armin said that wild animals weren't supposed to be in the house. Which I didn't know and I sort of let them make a mess so I'm sorry about that. Oh, and we're out of bread."

[backwordscompatible]

"I can see that."

So. A new roommate, huh? The guy had no reason to lie, and checking it would be easy enough.

In the meantime, she glanced over and found one of his little squirrel friends trying to climb up and out the window, but having a bit of trouble. The sill was slightly too high, and the wall wasn't rugged enough for the little guy to get a decent grip. So she lifted a hand and cast a quick spell, elevating him just high enough to reach the exit.

"I'm Zatanna. And yeah, I live here." She grinned a little at the mental image of Armin banning all animals, offering a shrug. "He's mostly right. Baby Tooth stays with Jack, but I'm not sure you would call her wild. At least she contributes around here."

[raavashing]

"Armin said pets were okay," he continued, brows scrunching as he tried to figure out what she'd done with the squirrel. Eh, it helped the animal get out. So it didn't matter. Wan moved over to that same window and started trying to shoo the rest of the creatures that had grown attached to him out of the house.

"I don't have any pets, though," he continued his thoughts. "Theses guys are just really friendly and they were hungry. What kind of animal is Tooth?"

[wintershepherd]

It was Jack's turn to bring home the fresh groceries for dinner that night, so he'd left the Welcome Center early (though he'd not been on shift when Wan had come through) and headed back to their new lodgings. "Zatanna, Armin!" he called as he entered... only to stop and take stock of the downstairs, which was like a breadcrumb factory had exploded.

"Uhh... was there a happy yeast party or something that I missed..."

[raavashing]

Most of the wild animals had been removed from the downstairs by the time Jack got home. Wan had been diligently attempting to convince all of them to either stay in his room or get out of the house. That had mostly worked, though there were a couple very persistent birds that followed him around as he moved through the house with a broom and a scrub brush.

He came into view after hearing someone new call out. When he spotted Jack, he grinned and waved, "Hello! I'm Wan. I live here now. Sorry for the mess!"

[wintershepherd]

"You do?" Jack repeated surprised, then grinned. "Guess that means we're a full house now, unless Evandau plans to have us start putting in bunk beds. It's nice to meet you, Wan. I'm Jack."

He casually flips his staff to his opposite hand and holds his out for Wan to shake. His skin is cold to the touch, though less so in this weather than normal as it's quite warm out. Indeed, he looks a little drawn, though it's quickly swept away by a ready grin.

"Guess I missed you at the Welcome Center, sorry about that."

[raavashing]

"I was told about you. You're the Winter Spirit," he said as he set his broom to the side and bowed in greeting.

Wan had no idea what hand shakes were, having come from a culture that didn't really do that when greeting others. So after he straightened up, he just stared at the extended hand for a long, awkward moment wondering what he was supposed to do with it. Then he bent over and picked up one of the few birds still following him to put it in Jack's outstretched hand, "Thanks! If you can put her outside, maybe she'll stay there this time."

[wintershepherd]

"Told about me, hm? Only good things I hope. Guess that means you've met Zatanna and-or Armin already."

If Jack was at all thrown by the ignored handshake, he didn't show it. Instead he accepted the bird with the carefulness of one used to handling such creatures and carried the avian to the window.

That was, of course, exactly the moment that Baby Tooth was using the same window to fly in by. She looked at Jack with the bird, then gave him an unmistakably flat look and forewent her usual perch on his shoulder to fly over to Wan, chirping her own greeting.

[raavashing]

"Both. Zatanna was the one that told me about you," he replied absently, completely enraptured by Baby Tooth as she came up to him. He held a hand up for her to sit on if she wanted to, "Hello. I'm Wan. It's nice to meet you. Are you a spirit, too?"

[wintershepherd]

Jack smiled when Wan said that it was Zatanna who'd spoken of him and there's a fondness in the expression that doesn't line up with just neighbours.

Baby Tooth alighted on Wan's hand and nodded in response to his question, adding something else in chirps and trills like a bird. The more Wan listened however, the more like words they would seem to be. While other humans on the turtle couldn't understand the small faerie, Jack and other spirits could.

"This is Baby Tooth," Jack introduced by way of translation as he was used to doing. "And she's a tooth fairy."

[raavashing]

Jack's smile went unnoticed by Wan as he leaned in to try and hear Baby Tooth better. At first it had sounded just like a bunch of chirps, but then they almost made sense. Jack's translation actually pulled Wan out of his concentration and he blinked a bit in puzzlement. Then held his free hand up toward the man, "Could you be quiet for a moment? I don't mean to be rude, but she was talking and... Well, I couldn't quite understand it. But I think if she repeats it I should be able to?"

He was completely unaware Jack was translating, of course.

Wan looked back at Baby Tooth, smiling once more, "Could you repeat that a little slower for me, please?"