The line between Winter and Summer ((Sock, Open RP, Mello, L, Jing))

[mello-n-choco.livejournal.com]

((Pick your poison. Characters cameoed can also be spoken with, if desired, but the main action of this post will be the three above. Also, any references to other characters are Mello's thoughts and shouldn't be construed as either godmodding or hinting, unless either is desired by that other player's mun))

The sky was very overcast, threatening to rain, wind blowing. No one sane would be out, which meant that a lot of people were, of course. Wouldn't surprise me if that damn bat was in the clouds, but I wasn't interested in talking to him right now.

Right now, L and I are practicing, him Capoeira, me Muay Thai for the hell of it. I may decide to learn drunken boxing for the hell of it. Right now, though, I'm finding that Muay Thai doesn't work very well against Capoeira. It's too rigid, but we agreed on styles before we began fighting and that stupid samurai has gotten one thing through...I can almost feel his damn sword against my hand when I start thinking about switching styles. I can almost see him watching, with that white haired brat, at the edge of the forest.

I must be getting paranoid.

The rain lets lose, though and L stops, looking up at it. I take the opportunity and get a strike in on him that lands him on his ass. Nice.

He just frowns at me and gets up, his thumb in his mouth. "It's raining," he says, as if that isn't obvious, and starts toward the castle.

Seriously? I stare after him. What a chicken.

I see a kid with a yellow coat. "Looks like he stole your game," he said, grinning at me.

"You wanna try?" I ask, watching a fat man cross from the green houses to the castle, trying not to look like he was running as he waddled. What is that damn fox doing now, renting out space? I smile back at the kid.

"To pick your pockets and steal your chocolate?" he asked, holding up one of my goddamned chocolate bars.

"You," I snarl, starting after him.

He tossed it back at me, laughing as he took off to the forest.

I gust out a breath and shove it back in my pocket. Now's a good a time as any to try to learn drunken boxing. I've read about it, so it's just a matter of application now. I stand in the middle of the area we'd been practicing in and start letting the wind sway me, learning to keep my balance when moving weirdly.

Comments

[serrulata.livejournal.com]

Kurama smiled beatifically at the large man, setting the beams against one wall. "Well, I've been in here most of the day, and they haven't been screaming, so I have to assume they're just fine. I'm not the Herbology professor for nothing, after all."

[gourmetwolfe.livejournal.com]

Wolfe turned to face the redhead again. "What manner of foolery is this? The herbology professor is taller and has silver hair and...ears," he said, a barely perceptible pause before the last word. "Pfui," he said, turning back to his plants.

[serrulata.livejournal.com]

"Yes," Kurama said, his smile turning into a smirk as Wolfe turned his back. He crooked a finger at a plant, calling vines to help him lift the metal beams up to where they needed to be. The vine, of course, grew right past Wolfe's nose, stopping to 'look' at him before slithering around to its task.

[gourmetwolfe.livejournal.com]

Wolfe recoiled, moving away from the vine as it threatened him, though not enough to upset his balance. He scowled and turned to face the redhead. "Confound it, how do you explain the plants in this place?" he asked, feeling that if the boy didn't have an explanation, he should seek one out rapidly.

[serrulata.livejournal.com]

"They're quite helpful, aren't they?" He moved a hand like a conductor, guiding the plants to wrap around the beams, temporarily securing them in place. He climbed up after them, into the rafters, as easily as if he was climbing stairs.

[gourmetwolfe.livejournal.com]

Wolfe watched, blinking every so often as his lips moved down another quarter of an inch. He looked more closely at the redhead, having to tilt his head, which he disliked. "Are you Kurama?" he asked skeptically.

[serrulata.livejournal.com]

Kurama grinned down at him. "Dead in the black. I thought your enormous skepticism would keep you from that conclusion. Consider me corrected."

[gourmetwolfe.livejournal.com]

"Pfui," Wolfe replied, turning back to the orchids. "I am a genius and eccentric, not a fool," he said, pulling one of the plants toward him and examining it minutely, looking for pests or any sign of distress before pulling another close as well. They would make an interesting cross, he mused.

[serrulata.livejournal.com]

"I'm sure nobody was accusing you of foolishness," said Kurama, tapping the beams into place. "Considering your earlier reluctance to accept that the ears were attached, it stands to reason that you'd be skeptical about me suddenly losing a foot and a half of height, among other things."

[gourmetwolfe.livejournal.com]

"Skepticism is the saving grace of the rational man," Wolfe replied as he picked up a small paint brush and examined it minutely. "And, without the ability to rationalize, we are little better than the stones," he said, switching the final comparison at the last moment, figuring that Kurama would protest either 'animals' or 'plants.'

[serrulata.livejournal.com]

"Indeed," Kurama murmured, pausing in his work to glance out at the grounds, catching a glimpse of Mello and Wishbone.
"Oh sure, he laughs at the dog," he muttered, forgetting momentarily that he wasn't alone.

[gourmetwolfe.livejournal.com]

Wolfe looked briefly at Kurama and then out the window to see a blond boy in leather playing with a dog. "Hmph," he muttered, turning back to the orchids and carefully collecting pollen from one of them. "Do you chase sticks?" he asked blandly.

[serrulata.livejournal.com]

"If you were a bit more jolly, I'd ask if you leave presents in stockings," Kurama shot back, dropping down from the rafters.

[gourmetwolfe.livejournal.com]

Wolfe ignored the comment for now. He had, at one point, played the part he was being taunted with. For now, he focused on gathering enough pollen and then on carefully pollinating the other. Once he was finished, he sat back up and turned to Kurama. "That would imply that I accept the existence of such a being."

[serrulata.livejournal.com]

"You haven't met Santa yet, then," he said, suppressing a little shudder. While the Fat man usually kept to himself, there was a reason Kurama preferred to 'hibernate' with Kusuriyuri during the winter. Dude creeped him right out. "That skepticism of yours is pretty hearty, if you disbelieve he could show up here, after everyone else."

[gourmetwolfe.livejournal.com]

Wolfe thought about opening his mouth to protest, but closed it again. "Pfui," he said, carefully setting a bag over the flower he'd just cross-pollinated.

[serrulata.livejournal.com]

"No kidding." He sat on one of the work benches, opening a ledger to tally his work for the day. The glass still had to be made, but at least everything else was in place.

[gourmetwolfe.livejournal.com]

Wolfe drew a card out of his pocket and notated which flowers he'd worked with on it carefully in exacting script before placing it back in his pocket. He brought another pot close to him and began examining it. He looked at Kurama a moment. "And, I suppose you will also say the tooth fairy and Easter Bunny make their off-season homes here, as well?" he asked.

[serrulata.livejournal.com]

In any other circumstances, the wary glance Kurama gave to the area of the Sorting Room would have been done specifically to mock. Here, though, he was being gravely serious. "Don't give them any ideas," he said, finishing his tallies (far less exacting than Wolfe's script, but the language of foxes wasn't made to be legible to outsiders) and snapping the journal closed.

"Though, honestly? I wouldn't be surprised. I've seen a lot of things over the last few millennia; this is the first place that has managed to constantly throw curveballs to my suspension of disbelief."

[gourmetwolfe.livejournal.com]

His question had been mildly facetious. Kurama's reaction added credibility to something that was as close to a joke as he came. He followed Kurama's gaze and then looked at Kurama again. "That must be quite irritating," he said blandly.

[serrulata.livejournal.com]

"Extremely," he said darkly, pointing at the new, glassless frames he'd set. "That's just from one this week, and last week half my growing experiments were killed by another." Though that one had turned out somewhat in his favor. "The location is not without its frustrations, but on the other hand, there's no where on the campus as perfect for growing magical plants."

[gourmetwolfe.livejournal.com]

Wolfe looked at the frames and at the building beyond and then back at his precious orchids. He despised disruptions to his daily schedule and this place was bad enough. He didn't want to have to walk farther to get to his plants than he already was and there was no elevator to set anything up on the roof and he'd probably have to have something built up there and there wouldn't be anyone to ensure his plants were both properly cared for and left alone by those who would try to damage them, as much as this place allowed such.

He drummed his fingers on the table once frowning still at the hole. Was there a way that damage from the school could be prevented from affecting the greenhouses? He would need to know more about the limits of what he had to work with. Confound it, why wasn't Archie here?

"Hmph," he finally said, still frowning at the opening.