(no subject)

[electrictadpole.livejournal.com]

What: CHALLENGE THREAD LAAA. Newt meets Horus.
Where: The roof of the manor. Yes, the roof.
When: April 9th, about ten am.
Who: Newt and Horus, other people can join in when somebody falls off the roof, or something.

Ch.2 V.13: It was a Nice Day in Lower Tadfield. And a Voice came down from On High, and That voice Did say:

"Erp."

Newt desperately clung to the chimney and tried not to drop his toolkit. That nice Harry kid had held the ladder for him, but then he'd had to run off, and now Newt was horribly aware of the fact that there was no-one to call an ambulance if he plunged to his Doom.

He took a deep breath and began to edge along the top of the roof to the section of tiles that had been damaged by hail towards the end of winter. Nobody had gotten around to noticing it until it started leaking, of course, so it was in a state of some disrepair.

The cry of some sort of bird startled him, and his arms windmilled desperately for a moment before he crouched down and gripped the roof like it was nice, solid ground.

And the Voice Did say:

"Oh, shit."

Comments

[roadkill-god.livejournal.com]

Movement out of the corner of Horus's eye caught his attention and he circled around, calling as he swooped down over the roof of the mansion. What he saw surprised him, why was a human up on the roof, and waving his arms around like he thought he could fly? Strange creatures. He perched on a chimney to watch what would happen.

[electrictadpole.livejournal.com]

The thing to do in this situation is not look down. That was easier said than done. Newt desperately stared at a bird that had come to rest on the chimney ahead of him. It was a nice bird. It was a very pretty bird and he ought to look at it, and not at the ground, which was not nice at all, especially when met at high speed.

"Okay." He said to himself, slowly cralwing towards the chimney. "The bird. Head for the bird."

[roadkill-god.livejournal.com]

Horus watched, a bit amused, as the human tried to crawl toward him. He flapped his wings once, twice, stretching them, and called in what was intended to be an encouraging fashion at the human. The poor creature looked terrified.

[electrictadpole.livejournal.com]

"Gah!" Newt cried, practically flattening himself against the roof in shock. He felt like his heart was about to burst out of his chest and do a lap of the manor.

He was seriously beginning to doubt the wisdom of this whole repairing things business.

"_help..."

[roadkill-god.livejournal.com]

A hand wrapped around Newt's outstretched wrist and Horus carefully pulled Newt toward the apex of the roof, where he might be able to get a better grip. It didn't really cross his mind that the human wouldn't be expecting the bird in front of him to change into a man.

[electrictadpole.livejournal.com]

This was indeed an unexpected development. Newt gratefully hugged the chimney and looked up at his rescuer.

"Uh... were you..." It couldn't be the bird. "How did you get up here?"

[roadkill-god.livejournal.com]

"Flew." Horus was amused by Newt's reaction. He shifted slightly as he perched sure-footedly on the top of the chimney and considered changing back into a bird. He felt uncomfortable and exposed as a human, he felt much safer with wings and feathers.

[electrictadpole.livejournal.com]

"Oh. Did you."

Newt decided that there were two options here. This man was crazy (also naked). Or he, Newt, was crazy, and apparantly hallucinating naked men on roofs. Which Anathema would certainly not be happy about.

But then, you don't just say "Excuse me, are you/am I crazy?" to someone you've just met. So Newt opted for a "How?"

[roadkill-god.livejournal.com]

Newt had gotten it right on the first try, not that Horus was aware of what he was thinking. He cocked his head slightly and looked at Newt like he was the crazy one. "Wings," he said matter-of-factly.

[electrictadpole.livejournal.com]

Newt's first instinct was to look up and see if he'd been mistaken, and the man actually did have wings. Halfway up, he remembered that whole "naked" thing and jerked his head back down so fast he hit his forehead on the chimney.

"Really." He mumbled. "Wings, then."

[roadkill-god.livejournal.com]

Horus stared at the strange human in confusion. Why was he hitting his head off the chimney? That couldn't feel very nice. It would never occur to him, though, that his nudity would be an issue.

[electrictadpole.livejournal.com]

"Err... so." Newt said cautiously, still keeping his gaze firmly level on a ratehr interesting brick to avoid looking at the ground or at Horus's man-bits. "Well, I, um, have to fix this roof. Do you... want to help?"

[roadkill-god.livejournal.com]

Horus watched curiously, not understanding the source of his discomfort. He shook his head, not interested in the broken roof, or really thinking that Newt wouldn't be able to see him while he was so focused on the brick.

[electrictadpole.livejournal.com]

"Oookay." Newt wondered if he ought to be assuming that silence meant no, or yes, or whether no news was good news, and what exactly would constitute good news in this particular situation.

He sighed, and moved towards the piece of broken tiling, trying to examine it without letting his gaze stray towards the edge of the roof.

[roadkill-god.livejournal.com]

Horus sat cross-legged on top of the chimney, watching Newt curiously. He wasn't quite sure what Newt was intending to do, and he was even less sure that Newt would be able to accomplish it without falling off of the roof.

[electrictadpole.livejournal.com]

The tiles around the area had been more or less shattered by what must have been a damn huge hailstone. That or a very small meteor. Many of them would need to be replaced. For the moment Newt decided he'd just plug the hole where the water was leaking into somebody's bedroom, and reccommend that Adam bring in a professional roofing company.

"Lets see," he muttered to himself, rummaging through is toolkit, "This looks big enough... now where's the glue.."

[ooc: are you going to participate at all? XP just watching doesn't give me much to bounce off. I may resort to falling off the roof.]

[roadkill-god.livejournal.com]

Horus leaned over to take a closer look at the spot on the roof that Newt was so interested in. He picked up a piece of broken shingle and offered it to Newt, figuring that was probably what he was looking for. He smiled hopefully at Newt, not thinking that most people usually like more than two inches of personal space.

{{Mun: ...Sorry! I'll try to get him to talk more, he just doesn't interact well with others.. -_-}}

[electrictadpole.livejournal.com]

"Er." Newt squeaked, leaning backwards slightly. "Thank you."

He took the piece of shingle from the strange naked man hanging from the chimney and raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that uncomfortable?"

[roadkill-god.livejournal.com]

Horus looked down at the chimney curiously, then back up at Newt. "No, should it be?" He prodded at the broken part of the roof and found a small hole. "It's broken. Is it leaking?" Maybe that was why the human was all the way up here.

[electrictadpole.livejournal.com]

"Er, yes. There's been water running into some guests bedrooms." Newt answered. "And... I suppose I thought hanging from a chimney without any clothes on would be a bit... abrasive." He added.

[roadkill-god.livejournal.com]

Horus prodded at the chimney and shook his head. "No." He looked at the hole again. "Why does the rain bother them?" He'd never minded the rain all that much.

[electrictadpole.livejournal.com]

"Uh." Newt frowned. "Well. It... drips onto their sheets, I suppose, and makes things moldy."

[roadkill-god.livejournal.com]

"Oh." He made a face. "Mold is smelly." He swung his legs over the side of the chimney and kicked his feet idly.

[electrictadpole.livejournal.com]

"Right. Anyway..." Newt turned back to the job at hand.

Let's see, this tile ought to fit back in there without too much trouble...

He wasn't entirely sure what happened next, but later decided he must have just looked up too quickly. He lost his balance, yelled "Ack!", threw his arms up and landed on his arse, letting go of the tile to grab onto the ridge of the roof.

The tile's trajectory neatly aimed it for the chimney... and Horus.

[roadkill-god.livejournal.com]

Horus saw the tile coming toward him, and was flying away with angry shriek almost as soon as the tile left Newt's hand. He landed on a tree a safe distance away and fixed Newt with an accusatory stare. He'd certainly think twice next time a human was falling off the roof.

[electrictadpole.livejournal.com]

Newt blinked. "Okay, what. Did that man just turn into a bird and fly away? Argh. I'm going crazy!"

He decided that maybe fixing roof tiles was outside his jurisdiction.

Now he just had to get down.

[radishesncorks.livejournal.com]

Luna had decided to try flying over the Manor to see if she could spot likely nesting sites for Crumple-Horned Snorkacks - so far she hadn't been successful, although she thought that she had seen a Heliotrope. A commotion coming from the roof drew her attention, just then, and she saw the Hawk flying away, with a human, who was too small for her to identify, crouching on the roof.

Flying closer, she realized that the man looked familiar. She remembered meeting him before. Now what was his name? Ah, yes.

"Hi, Newt."

[electrictadpole.livejournal.com]

"Um." Newt shouted down to the girl below him. "Hi."

He considered his options. He wanted to scream "HELP!", but that seemed quite undignified, so he chose a polite "Er. Do you think you could bring that ladder around the corner over here so I can get down?"

[radishesncorks.livejournal.com]

"Sure!" said Luna, hovering. With a swish and a flick she simultaneously Summoned the ladder and Banished it neatly at Newt's feet. "Ooh! Gotta go! I think I spotted another HeliotropeBye!" With that she zoomed off on her broomstick in a seemingly haphazard manner.

[electrictadpole.livejournal.com]

Newt screwed his eyes shut and moaned. He really was going crazy. It wss a more plausible idea than that everyone around him was blatantly defying the laws of physics. Where were the police when you needed them?

Maybe this was just a product of dizziness from being too high up. Newt slowly edged down the ladder and practically whimpered with relief when his feet touched solid, lovely solid ground.

"So much for the roof repair business."