tavihargrave:
It might be a long shot, honestly—if his guess is even right, that the noise is bothering whatever ghost lives in that room, an idea which on its own sends a shiver up his spine, he can’t imagine using a room knowing that a ghost lives here, well, even with a working fan a computer’s still a pretty noisy thing. How many times, before they moved into their new, much larger place, had his girlfriend gotten annoyed with him for using the computer in the middle of the night because the sound kept waking her up? Maybe she and this ghost thing had something in common, there, and maybe the fan wouldn’t be enough.
But it’s one step better than a stab in the dark, and Ignatius is right, if this doesn’t work they can call in Crow or something and get a real answer that maybe two magic uses can solve in a way he wouldn’t be able to. So he nods, tells Ignatius he can go out and get the part he needs, gets directions from Alissia to the nearest computer store which is, thankfully, a Radio Shack not very far from where they are, so he won’t nee to worry about needing Ignatius to apparate him there.
He gets the part he needs, keeps the receipt because, okay, yeah, he doesn’t know if MACUSA will reimburse him for this, but they should because he’s got no other choice here but to spend some of his own money to fix some girl’s computer so a ghost won’t be pissed off at her anymore, but it doesn’t matter right now, what matters is hoping this works and that it’s actually an answer to this problem, and then makes his way back to the house, fan in hand.
“It’ll take me a few minutes,” he says, powering off the computer so he can take the tower apart and get the new fan installed. As soon as the computer turns off and goes silent, so too does the grinding noise from the corner, and that’s a good sign, he thinks. He pulls out his keys, the small screwdriver keychain he keeps attached to them, pulls the tower out and starts to unscrew the backing plate. “If you guys want to chill out while I handle this, we don’t all have to stand around watching…”
.
It seems like as good a solution as any they might be able to try, in the absence of any troublesome, but helpful abilities to speak with spirits, or feel their vibes, or whatever, and all the better to give it a try, before giving up and calling in reinforcements. He’s not too proud to call for help when he’s out of his depth, especially now, after Scotland, after learning to rely on people for much, much more dire situations than an annoyed ghost, but he would still rather they manage to take care of this case themselves, since it had seemed so simple on paper. Also, he doesn’t want Tavi to think he’s incompetent, which he’s well aware has to do with some deep and lingering inadequacy issues, but that’s something for another time.
Tavi heads out and Ignatius kind of awkwardly just stands in the middle of the room, between the noise and the two kids, who still seem just as terrified. Not much changes as they wait; the noise is consistent enough to the point that it feels less horrifying to him after a few minutes, and more just very, very annoying, and the dripping of the blood like substance is on and off again. He does eventually go over to check that out, in the absence of anything else to do, not being able to sustain his fear as long as Alissia and Michael apparently, and sure enough upon inspection it seems to be nothing, an illusion, lingering magic, probably, the sort of thing a ghost maybe could be powerful enough to present despite the inability to show itself.
“Definitely a ghost,” he nods to himself, unhelpfully, before getting back up and looking to Alissia. “Have you noticed anything in here before? Signs of a spirit trying to show itself?”
“No, it only seemed to start with the email. Nothing’s ever been strange about this room... and nothing else has happened, either, that might’ve made a ghost latch onto it,” Alissia answers, and he nods. It makes sense, a spirit content to be in a peaceful spot, maybe, until it’s suddenly disturbed. He doesn’t know much about ghosts, but if it’s able to be seen, he’s got to guess that means it’s not super powerful.
Luckily, it doesn’t take very long for Tavi to reappear, computer part in his hands, and he immediately jumps back in, getting to work, which he appreciates, not having to linger on the unknowns just now. And he watches over Tavi’s shoulder curiously as he turns the computer off, and starts to work at it. Sure enough, the noise in the corner stops as soon as the computer does as well, and he lets out a small hum, interested.
At his prompting, though, Ignatius snaps out of it, realizing he should probably at least act useful. “Yeah why don’t you two go wait in the other room, get some water, relax a little, we’ll let you know what we find, yeah?” he suggests. Alissia seems happy to have permission to leave the room, dragging Michael out with her. “Noise stopped, that’s a good sign. And that blood wasn’t blood, just an illusion. Dunno how ghost magic works, but whatever is in here isn’t powerful enough to physically interact with anything, so honestly it’ll be fine to just leave it, if this does the trick... sorry, that’s probably distracting.”











