Open A Matter of Observation

[Ryan Fisk]

Open after Annabelle posts with Otto

The staircases had been a puzzle just waiting for Ryan to work out for ages. Now, with a lot of the school gearing up for exams, Ryan finally felt like things might be quiet enough to do some proper reconnaissance work and get to the bottom -or the top- of why exactly the Hogwarts stairs were like that.

He just knew there had to be some sort of pattern to it, so, lain out on his stomach near the landing to hopefully avoid the staircase being aware of his presence (and Ryan was certain they had to be at least vaguely aware of the school's foot traffic). Ryan had set himself up near one of the lower traffic staircases, well away from places like the library and the great hall to watch and record as much as he could to decipher later. He'd already had a few disgruntled passers by complain about him being in the way, but in Ryan's opinion, they were in the way of his work. Besides, they could go around if it was really important to them.

 

[Otto Basher]

Otto had decided that in order to find something fun to do, he made it his goal to explore every floor of the castle. He didn't really care what he found, so long as it interested him somewhat. Since he had found his classes lacking in entertainment, he pulled out a textbook to read along the way. He had to learn somehow, and it seemed as though doing it himself was to easiest way.

The sixth floor hadn't been too entertaining, just boring classrooms, so Otto made his way to the stairs to look at the next floor. He hadn't made it very far to his next destination before bumping into someone."You're in the way, have you noticed?" He closed his book with a snap. Noticing that the boy was writing something, an idea came into his head."Whatever are you writing about? Must be important to be such a hazard to a passerby."

 

[Ryan Fisk]

Ryan frowned when he felt someone bump into him again, lifting his quill from the page so he didn't mess up his notes. It wasn't the first time he'd been bumped into, and Ryan was content to ignore the passerby so he wouldn't lose focus, but this time whoever it was seemed more interested in what he was doing than the others. Everyone else so far had just complained as they'd continued on past him, but Ryan had considered that an acceptable casualty. Chancing a glance over his shoulder at whomever had bumped into him, Ryan hoped he wasn't going to miss any important data for this. "I'm trying to track the stair's movements," He said, vaguely recognizing the student standing over him from class before turning his gaze back to intently watching the stairs. "I'm certain there's got to some kind of pattern."

 

[Otto Basher]

"Uh huh." Otto didn't understand why watching the stairs was so important. Who cared if there was a pattern? So long as you didn't miss a step, it didn't matter."And you have to be in the way?" Not listening to whether there was an answer or not, he sat down next to the boy. He thought it might be a good way to have some fun. He recognised him from being in the same year, but knew he wasn't in the same house. Besides not having seen him in the dorms, he wore blue instead of green."Did you want help with that? I'm very observant." He nodded his head slowly while saying this, putting on what he hoped was an innocent face.

 

[Ryan Fisk]

"This the best vantage point," Ryan said flatly, confused why it seemed to be bother the other boy. He could just go around if he wanted to use the stairs, though Ryan half hoped he wouldn't, he still hadn't figured out if the stairs reacted to people or not yet and needed to use the stairs as a control first. Ryan looked over his shoulder again when the boy offered to help him blinking a few times before shuffling over a few centimeters. He had been annoyed to be interrupted again, but maybe having another set of eyes would be a good thing. "Okay, it might help to keep track of the time with two people," He said, glancing down at his watch and back at the stairs. "You should lay down though, in case the stairs react to your presence," Ryan didn't want to say 'in case the stairs can see you', because that sounded silly, but he still wasn't sure that wasn't the case.

 

[Otto Basher]

Otoo grinned, but rolled his eyes at the boy's comment. How could the stairs react to his presence? It made no sense. Still, he did what he was asked. After laying in silence for a bit, he said,"What's your name? I'm guessing you're in Ravenclaw. Do you all do this?" Otto was happy to be in Slytherin, especially since both his parents had been there. Suddenly, he sat up and pointed to a set of stairs."Oh look!" Nothing had happened, but he wanted to have some fun.

 

[Ryan Fisk]

Ryan frowned when the boy broke the silence, tilting his head to look at him from the corner of his eye. He'd been excited at the idea of company on his project, but was realizing now that chatting might not be conducive to his research. "It's Ryan," He said after a beat, checking back on the staircase before answering the second half of the question. "And, as you can see, it's just me. And you now," He said, wondering why the boy would think any other Ravenclaws were doing this. Unless there were others posted at another staircase. "Wait, have you seen anyone else doing this?" Ryan didn't know if he was upset someone beat him to it, or if he should be happy to have someone to compare notes with. They could certainly get more sample information that way. Ryan was just mulling it over when the boy seemed to have spotted something, whipping his head around to check back at the stairs. "What? What happened?" He said, frustrated that he'd been distracted enough to miss something.

 

[Otto Basher]

Otto shook his head."I haven't seen anyone else. I would've remembered if someone else was doing this! I just thought, you know, you might all do stuff like this." He pretended to have a closer look at the staircase, and collapsed in defeat."It must've been nothing. Bummer!" He was laughing inside.

 

[Ryan Fisk]

Ryan looked at the Slytherin boy quietly while he explained himself, shrugging. "I guess there has to be some shared traits within a house. But no, I think it's just the two of us doing this experiment to my knowledge," Ryan said, wondering if he should bother asking his roommates if any of them had thought to watch the staircases yet. Or maybe one of the older students would have more information, they certainly had more experience with them. He frowned when the boy said he didn't see anything, feeling the frustration rising. "Be quiet then, I don't want to miss anything again," He said, shuffling his limbs a bit to get more comfortable so he could resume watching hopefully without more interruptions.

 

[Otto Basher]

Otto pretended to look ashamed."Sorry again," he apologised, a little quieter this time. He wondered if all Ravenclaw's were this picky when they got involved in a project. He couldn't imagine being so involved in something. Hoping to come up with something else to do, he pulled out some parchment. How many 'notes' could he take before Ryan realised he was pulling his leg?