Office #26, Wednesday

[chosehumanity]

Mitchell spent most of the day on the phone with Portalocity. Sure, he had a house on Fandom, but he also didn't relish the idea of George and Annie stuck alone together in that place in Bristol.

Which meant he needed an arrangement, and he was going to have to spend an awful lot of time arguing to make it even remotely affordable. "What if I only use portals during set times, then? Oh, come on, you can't tell me you only charter. How is it that you haven't crashed and burned yet in this market? There's an economic crisis on, do you really want to lose my business?"

His door was open, though, if you were willing to come in and disturb the vampire shouting and fumbling over the phone.

[[ open hours! ]]

Comments

[vanillajello]

As long as the vampire wasn't shouting at her, Kate could deal with it just fine. ...And even if he did, she'd just shout back at him. Apparently.

So, she didn't seem too shaken by finding him being angry on the phone when she came over before Drake's class. But she did pause in the doorway. It was only polite.

[chosehumanity]

"Yes, fine, go look through your catalogue-- I'll be phoning back in an hour!"

Mitchell slammed down the phone, and... blinked. "Kate."

[vanillajello]

"Who were you yelling at now?" she wondered, leaning a shoulder against the doorframe. "Pretty sure that wasn't George."

[chosehumanity]

"Portalocity," he muttered, rubbing his hair in a way that got it all over the place. "I'm trying to get a direct line in with Bristol."

[vanillajello]

"And they're giving you trouble?" Well, that was kind of obvious, really. "Figures. Half the time I hear about Portalocity someone is bitching about poor service."

[chosehumanity]

"They're just kicking up a fuss about scheduling or something." Mitchell's hand went up again, this time in an attempt to tame the mess again. "But hey."

[vanillajello]

Kate smirked faintly at his hair. Seemed like a battle he wasn't going to win.

"Hey," she agreed, pushing herself off the doorframe and taking a step into the office.

[chosehumanity]

"So..." Subject. Yes.

They were in that middle ground of 'should I be nice, or is that too much, or something' that Mitchell didn't generally do well with.

"How was the trip to the Bahamas?"

[vanillajello]

"Very Bahamas-y. And beachy. And nice, I guess," she replied idly. It was kind of handy that she was so good at hiding her awkwardness.

Except for the part where she was standing in the middle of his office, rocking back on her heels a bit. That... may have looked a little awkward.

"Kinda drunk, too." Beat. "Oh, and and there was a boa constrictor at Starbucks."

[chosehumanity]

"A boa constrictor," he repeated, dubiously. "Did they have trouble making their coffee awful enough, so they brought in some snake venom?"

[vanillajello]

"It wasn't a venomous snake, Mitchell. A boa constrictor doesn't have to be."

Oh, yes. Someone had read up on the subject afterwards. Way afterwards. Drinking had been more imprtant straight after.

"I think it was just visiting with the intention of freaking me the fuck out."

[chosehumanity]

"Fine, blind me with science," Mitchell said, waving it off. Metaphorically speaking. "...Wait, it was loose?"

[vanillajello]

"Yeah. We were on the sun patio, and then suddenly it was just there."

[chosehumanity]

"...What?"

Vampires, werewolves and ghosts were fine. But random boa constrictors? That was just insane.

[vanillajello]

"Yeah, that was pretty much my reaction, too," Kate said, nodding. "That, and climbing on top of my chair."

[chosehumanity]

"Did they at least get the animal rescue people in?"

[vanillajello]

Kate shrugged and shook her head. "We... didn't really stick around to find out."

[chosehumanity]

"That is weird," Mitchell decided, leaning a long ways back in his chair.

He looked at her again. "...Kate, if you have any questions, you're always free to ask. Just... try and keep the squirrels out of it."

[vanillajello]

"Yeah, that was one weird thing."

Said the DID sufferer's daughter to the vampire.

... Anyway.

Kate shrugged again. "I'll ask if I feel like it. And I have zero interest in the squirrels knowing anything about anything ever, so..." That wasn't going to be a problem.

NFB

[chosehumanity]

Mitchell nodded thoughtfully.

This was going to wind up another one of those conversational gap--

"We have a ghost now."

Or not.

Re: NFB

[vanillajello]

So, Kate was just going to blink at that for a second or two.

"... What? Seriously?"

Re: NFB

[chosehumanity]

"We found out right after we moved into the house," he elaborated, looking way too excited about the whole thing. "It's haunted!"

Re: NFB

[vanillajello]

"I see." Yeah, that much excitement should not go with the word haunted. It was kind of amusing. "So, um... What kind of ghost?"

Re: NFB

[chosehumanity]

"A nice one." He grinned, leaning forward. "Her name's Annie. You'd like her." Beat. "Well, if you could see her."

Re: NFB

[vanillajello]

Kate couldn't help smirking. "Oooh, the ghost's a girl?"

She didn't usually get to tease him about things like that. She took the opportunity when it was handed to her.

But there were other things too. "So, in your world, normal people can't see ghosts?"

Re: NFB

[chosehumanity]

"Oh, don't be twelve," he said. Maybe a bit too quickly, but let's not get into that. "Yeah. Other supernaturals can. We're... coming from the same country."

He shrugged. "George has been yelling about it all week." Mitchell did such an excellent job at outing George left and right.

Re: NFB

[vanillajello]

Kate had had her suspicions, anyway. She wasn't about to ask for specifics.

"Somehow I'm not surprised." And she barely even knew George.

Re: NFB

[chosehumanity]

"He has trouble adjusting to things outside of his rigid perception of normality," Mitchell said, smoothly. "But yeah, we've got a ghost. She makes an awful lot of tea, if you ever plan to visit."

Re: NFB

[vanillajello]

"To drink tea made by a ghost? I'd love to."

Now that she'd been shocked out of her complete inability to drink tea without wanting to puke.

She tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "So you're going to be going back and forth between Fandom and Bristol a lot, huh?"

Re: NFB

[chosehumanity]

"Someone has to make sure Annie and George don't kill each other," he said, with a shrug. "They like bickering."

Re: NFB

[vanillajello]

"One of them's already dead."

Not that she didn't get his point. But she wouldn't be herself if she didn't point things like this out.

Re: NFB

[chosehumanity]

Mitchell shot her dry look. "So am I. Trust me, there's worse ways to kill."

Re: NFB

[vanillajello]

"I'm sure there are." And she had no desire to know what they were, so-- "Anyway. Just don't forget to come back regularly. I'll be screwed if I have to eat all the muffins I bake by myself."

She hadn't baked anything in like, forever, but that was beside the point.

Re: NFB

[chosehumanity]

That was a sign, if any, to drop all the talk about ghosts and monsters and to go, "Kate Gregson, you're baking again?"

Sorry, Kate. Now you were stuck with it.

Re: NFB

[vanillajello]

"I could be," Kate allowed. "If I still remember how."