Open RP, Greenhouses (Eleventy, Kurama, River)

[eleventyrags.livejournal.com]

The Doctor hadn't always loved Halloween, but on those worlds that celebrated it (or something like it) he definitely tried to join in the fun, if there was nothing overtly intent on re-enacting a favorite horror film but with real knives instead of rubber props. He supposed at Hogwarts there was no danger of this (and even if there was, the danger was minimized) and thus strolled confidently over the grounds, rambling until he came to a pile of rather gorgeous pumpkins. He stared at them a minute, then at the door they framed. A sign read:

Pumpkins, free to a good carver.

Candy within, Trick-or-Treaters welcome.

Any tricks resulting in broken glass will be met with a boot up someone's back end.

The last bit, he noted, was scrawled rather hastily in something that his mind wanted to read as Japanese, but his eyes were registering as English. The rest was in big, spiky, dramatic handwriting, with bats, cats, and pumpkins scribbled all over the place. It very nearly covered a plaque that read 'Professor Minaminaminamino." What a name. He grinned and ducked in.



She, with brown hair all shocked out by too much curling iron, an ironic pointy black hat on her head, a very witchy dress, too much makeup, and boots that looked like they could stomp a Dalek. The other (she? No, the shoulders were too broad, but the hair just screamed girl) sat with their back to the doctor and looked like the costume of the year must be a mummified werewolf. The tail was even moving, too. Nice touch.

"Trick or treat!" He called, waving a hand. The girl looked up at him and beamed and the - yes, that face was as close to male as it was going to get - man turned around to look at him.

"What's your costume?" The girl asked, putting her head to one side. The man flapped a hand at her, and she stuck out her tongue at him.

"A time traveler," The Doctor said grinning at their interaction. They might have been bickering siblings, for all they didn't look a thing alike.

The man gestured to a cauldron on the floor next to the table. "Take your treat then, oh wanderer. You might have to forgive River her impetuousness."

The Doctor blinked at the name, but before he could say anything, the girl cut in.

"Not that River," she said, her eyes intent on the Doctor for a split second before turning back to her companion. He had the unsettling certainty that she'd just casually read his mind. People weren't supposed to be able to do that.

"And that isn't even a real word," she was saying. "Bad foxes should read more dictionaries."

The Doctor grabbed a bag from the cauldron - fun-sized jelly babies - and extended a hand to the suffering redhead. He noticed that what he first thought were bandages on his head were furry ears to match the tail. "Nice costume. Professor Minaminaminamino, I presume?"

The Professor made a face and took the offered hand. "Kurama, if you please." He shot a withering look to River, who contrived to look innocent. "I thought it had been covered."

"I'm The Doctor," he introduced himself. "I'm surprised you're indulging the tricking and treating, though. That's more of an American holiday these days, isn't it?"

Kurama shrugged, breaking the handshake with a smile to go back to what he was working on. They looked like flowers that had decided to be lanterns, all in orange and black. River was stringing them together on a long line.

"There are plenty of American students here, and it's an amusing enough tradition." Between his hands another flower seemed to appear from nowhere, and went to the pile for River to tend. It even glowed faintly.

The Doctor watched them work for a moment, munching on his jelly babies, until River completed a strand and jumped down from the table. "I'll take care of these," she said, and then stopped to look at the Doctor with a lot more knowing solemnity than a teenaged human girl should have. "Not that River. If she's the Amazon, I'm a waterfall."

And then she was gone, even grabbing a broom on her way out. The Doctor looked quizzically at Kurama, who shrugged.

"I don't even know. I stopped trying to guess months ago." He stretched, winced, and then flexed his hands. "How much of that time traveler business is the truth? In some way all of us are, at least in this place, but that bow tie is giving me some pretty specific questions."

"All of it," the Doctor replied, adjusting his bowtie with a grin. "I just happen to know that the bowtie has never not been cool."

Kurama's smile was wry. "Those Croats, pulling us all kicking and screaming out of the fashion dark ages."

"You know your history."

"I've lived my history."

They stared at each other for a beat, the Doctor half-poised to grab his screwdriver and see just what Kurama was, Kurama smirking at him and practically daring him to ask.

"Mind if I take a look around?" The Doctor asked instead; there would be other times to pry, and there was a flower one room over that was so blue it was making him TARDIS-sick. Kurama waved a hand at him in a 'by all means' gesture.

Such interesting folk there were here. He was beginning to enjoy himself.

_{((OOC: I suck at making things short. Specify if you want River, Eleventy, or Kurama to play with, or be surprised <3 ))}

Comments

[serrulata.livejournal.com]

"I tore him to pieces, Kaga," Kurama said, his smile going to something sympathetic, if a little unhinged. "Turned his bones to wood and watched his flesh rip apart. The tree is still out there; I just haven't had the strength to cut it down and burn it." And it had looked almost like Karasu, too, with black bark and leaves that were too red even for the season, fed on his blood. It would almost be a pity, destroying it.

But...

"I... haven't yet checked the plaque, to be sure. But if he were around still I'd know. His stench is dying along with anything else he left behind."

[gourmetchairman.livejournal.com]

"I want to see it." He believed Kurama now, but he wanted to see the tree with his own eyes, to get some closure.

[serrulata.livejournal.com]

Kurama checked the light - it was nearly dark out - and nodded. "Here, tie one of these to one of the sticks over there, I'll be right back." He handed Kaga one of the lantern flowers and pointed to a sturdy-looking pole that leaned against one of the tables, then vanished into the next greenhouse. He emerged a few minutes later, tailed by the Doctor, who beamed at Kaga and took over Kurama's place at the candy cauldron.

"It'll be a bit of a walk," Kurama said, "but it's worth the time spent."

[gourmetchairman.livejournal.com]

Kaga had done as Kurama asked, holding the lantern pole as they walked. His heart was beating rapidly in anticipation.

[serrulata.livejournal.com]

It took some doing, but Kurama managed to lead the way without running into too many trees or tripping over something. His peripheral sucked in daylight, but now, with just the lantern, he wished Karasu had picked somewhere less dramatic to fight, like in the middle of the grounds. Something easy.

Still, it was worth it once he found the game trail that he and Kusuriyuri had stumbled back on. It became less elating once he could see how much damage he'd done to the place, the huge ring of dead trees and the dry, blasted grass. But the one tree that still looked like it had any life in it, however superficial, was Karasu's. It twisted up to the sky as if reaching, crowned and surrounded by blood-colored leaves. Kurama rather appreciated the aesthetic. He'd like it more once it was burning.

[gourmetchairman.livejournal.com]

Kaga stepped forward, getting a glove off and touching the trunk with one hand. For a long time he just stood there.

"I think...there will always be that nagging doubt, because Hogwarts is a fickle place. But I feel relieved." He looked at Kurama. "I wish you had sought help, though. Those wounds came from him, didn't they?"

He pulled his hand away. "I want to be there when the tree gets burned down."

[serrulata.livejournal.com]

Kurama shrugged, brushing off the seriousness of his injuries. He'd heal, eventually. "They did, but it was worth it. I was thinking of having a group bonfire anyway." It would be a nice sense of closure, if just for this chapter of time.

[gourmetchairman.livejournal.com]

"Good.," Kaga whispered, it still sinking in that Karasu was gone. "Let's go back," he said.