Open RP in A's Garden

[i-am-an-hero.livejournal.com]

The encounter with Delirium in the Popcorn Room had disturbed A deeply. He hadn't realized quite how changed he was until suddenly his mind had been back then. Wishbone's welcome distraction had gotten him away from her, but he still felt the weight he'd spent the last few years pulling himself out from under.

He tried to focus. It wasn't planting time yet, but he'd drawn out plans for new beds in his garden, butterfly-attracting flowers around the gazebo, and the worked the dirt there now, preparing. It gave him something to think about that was now.

As long as he could keep from looking at his inevitably bleeding scraped knuckles...

Comments

[woocha.livejournal.com]

Wishbone started to dig as well, wanting to help A and see him smile.

Hey, he said, nudging A with his nose. The meanie's gone now.

[i-am-an-hero.livejournal.com]

A sighed, rubbing Wishbone's head fondly. "She wasn't being mean," he said softly. "I, I, what she is, it's in me, and it just all came back."

He didn't want Wishbone to understand, but he couldn't not at least try to explain.

[woocha.livejournal.com]

Wishbone tilted his head. I don't understand. She made you sad but she's not mean?

[i-am-an-hero.livejournal.com]

"Being... being that kind of sad, I think that's what she is. So being around her made that part of me wake up."

[woocha.livejournal.com]

That's also sad, that she makes people do that. She can't even NOT do that, can she?

[rat-bstrd.livejournal.com]

Rat had been running around, waving a stick and yelling at things. So he didn't see A until he was almost on top of him.

"HAAAIIII-wha!? Watch it! Shit! Watch what you're doing!" The heavily pierced young man had practically jumped out of his skin. "I mean, shit, who just crouches down and hides from people!?"

[i-am-an-hero.livejournal.com]

"'Crouching' and 'hiding' in a new bed being dug for my garden. I can see how the lush February foliage hid me."

That kind of snark wasn't like A at all normally, but he was shaken and trying to find a way to balance.

[rat-bstrd.livejournal.com]

((Is empathy ok here?))
Rat was shaken as well, but wasn't going to admit he was spastic and jumpy. He crossed his arms defiantly. "Well...that's just...good. Uh."

The digging guy seemed nervous and it was starting to affect Rat as well. He tried again for sarcasm. "Who digs in a garden in February, anyway?" But his heart obviously wasn't in it. He squinted at A. "You do any kind of martial art?"

[i-am-an-hero.livejournal.com]

((sure))


"If I dig now, then the ground will be ready when it's time to plant," he explained with more patience. "And I, I, there was, I needed to learn some to be safe." A shuddered at the fresh burst of unwanted memories and glanced away.

[rat-bstrd.livejournal.com]

"But your hands-" ah, forget it. Why should he even care?

>I needed to learn some to be safe," A said. Rat nodded. He knew that tune. And then there was an unpleasant burst of something, coming from the guy. Rat pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned. "Stupid fricking..." Well, he'd better get himself together, or the guy would start getting his feelings and it would be an endless feedback loop.

Rat plunked down abruptly, crossed his legs and started taking deep breaths.

[serrulata.livejournal.com]

He should have been working, but Kurama had made an executive decision that work could be put of for the sake of one clear, mostly warm day. He spotted A from a distance and strolled over, whistling something vaguely Beatles, hands in his pockets.

The jaunty tune almost died when he saw the way A hunched oveer his work; smelled the distress. But he kept it up, determined to at the very least try and cheer his 'little brother' up some. He crouched across from A on the last note, inspecting the worked earth with a critical eye. "You're going to put a legion of earthworms out of work, kiddo, being so thorough."

[i-am-an-hero.livejournal.com]

"There will always be food for worms," he said with a shaky laugh, breaking up a few more clods. "They can spare me a bit of earth." Hastily, he realized that that hadn't been very comforting wording, and cleared his throat. "There's plenty of compost to mix in. Maybe I could try a hot bed."

[serrulata.livejournal.com]

"There's plenty of bullshit in this school to keep a hotbed steaming for a thousand years," Kurama said dryly, then rested his elbows on his knees, and propped his chin on a hand. "I think if the worms knew you were feeling so down, they'd give you every acre they could spare," he said, quite seriously even though it sounded stupid and childish. "Care to talk about it?"

[i-am-an-hero.livejournal.com]

No point being vague, was there? "I met someone coming from the Popcorn Room," he said quietly. "An anthropomorphic personification. Delirium." He shivered, realizing that Kurama hadn't arrived yet for the worst of the Hogwarts memories, and only had a vague knowledge of his time before. He didn't want to strengthen the memories by putting them into words.

[serrulata.livejournal.com]

He let that sink in for a moment. He'd seen (but dared not approach) Death around the school, and having to confront something like that would be more than terrifying, even for him.

He felt a kind of swell of pride for A, at that moment. A could have easily gone down the Kid Insano route and wigged out entirely, but here he was, calming himself down with garden work.

"I'd say you've handled the situation quite admirably," Kurama said, grabbing a clod of dirt with his free hand and crumbling it idly. "I probably would have ended up hiding in the back of my closet."

[endlessgoth.livejournal.com]

Death had been out for a walk around the grounds, enjoying the clear morning. She had been pleasantly distracted recently and was hoping that the walk would help settle some of the worries that continued to bubble up at the back of her mind.

She rounded the corner and smiled at A, until she saw the hunch of his shoulders.

"Heya Chef," she said with a little smile. "What's doin?"

[i-am-an-hero.livejournal.com]

He gave her the best smile he could manage. "Getting ready for spring."

[endlessgoth.livejournal.com]

"Baking and planting? That's gotta keep you pretty busy. Even if it is a little early for spring," she said, perching on an overturned wheelbarrow.

"You okay?"

[i-am-an-hero.livejournal.com]

He gave Death a wary look at the question, then dropped his gaze to the dirt.

"I'm getting ready for spring," he whispered.

[edomedpeddler.livejournal.com]

It was a little early to turn the ground, but the expression on A's face indicated to Kusuriyuri that the boy was using it as a way to clear his mind. He approved of this work to the A simply seeking him out, it showed growth. He watched a long moment before approaching. "What shall be grown here?" he asked.

[i-am-an-hero.livejournal.com]

Kusuriyuri's presence was inherently soothing; he'd helped calm A so many times that being near him was automatically relaxing.

"Flowers meant to attract butterflies. It will make it even prettier for having picnics."

[edomedpeddler.livejournal.com]

Kusuriyuri raised an eyebrow. "Flowers for a single purpose?" he asked, his tone solemn.

[i-am-an-hero.livejournal.com]

"For the butterflies it will be food, and for the people it will bring their beauty to look at," he explained in an equally serious tone. "Purposes are served."

[bitmagnificent.livejournal.com]

The Doctor had spent a great deal of his time exploring, getting himself lost, exploring all over again, and promptly forgetting the world existed once he'd found the library. He wasn't certain how he'd managed to avoid most lifeforms to that point, but he had and was rather proud of himself, not causing a measure of chaos for so long.

He eventually found himself hungry, however. It was with this in mind that he'd set out to find... some sort of snack machine, maybe, or a little shop with a tea room. Big airy castle, magic and rude paintings and weird elves and wands, there had to be tea. Honestly.

What he eventually found, however, was not a tea room, but a nice little rambling path out of doors and onto the grounds. He could wait, he decided, for a snack, as it had only been a few weeks, really. Or a week. He'd forgotten.

When, not paying attention, he nearly tripped over a stone and into a garden, he made a surprised sort of squawk and pinwheeled to retrieve his balance, narrowly missing a tumble over some poor bloke crouching nearby.

"Err... hello," was his attempt to reclaim his dignity, adjusting his lapels. "Didn't see you there. Well... didn't see all this, actually, to be fair."

[i-am-an-hero.livejournal.com]

"Oh," A said, blinking. He smiled hesitantly, his growing natural friendliness somewhat dampened by his recent encounter with Delirium. "It, when, soon it will be spring and the plants will bud and blossom. I'm working on some new beds this year, that I've planned. The rest sort of grew up haphazardly."