[Crackplot] Weeee, it's winter. Or something to that effect.

[myrddin_wyllt]

The grounds of the Mansion lay dark and dead, the trees grey and the grass sear and yellow-brown.

The air in the Mansion had a chilly feel to it, as if winter had crept into the woodwork. And once asleep, perhaps some Mansion dwellers dream of silvery winter days, building snow forts, lighting with candles.

When Mansion dwellers wake up, this

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[silvereyedphage]

Muraki had a meeting with his student this morning, but he pauses in a bow window of the library to look out at the snow. Winter has always been his favorite time of the year, perhaps because he was born in it, and even now, he enjoys the ice and snow.

He's wrapped in these happy meditations, when he suddenly realizes he can just peek over the window sill, from amid the folds of a white wool suit tailored for a very tall adult man, enough to muffle the startled -- and tiny -- seven year old now trying to dig out of them.

"Mother? Help! What is this?" he calls out in a soft chirp of a voice.

[alwaysmovingon]

The Doctor hasn't run into this sort of thing before. He walks into the library, looking for a book. Stops. And blinks at the little boy sitting on the windowsill and trying to dig himself out of a white wool suit, and he does know that face and those eyes; they're very distinctive.

He puts his hands in his pockets, eyebrows shooting up. "Well, hullo," he says, mostly to himself. "Don't I know you?"

[silvereyedphage]

The hair is more of an ash blond than a platinum blond with a touch of silver and the pupils of the eyes are more oval-shaped than slit-like, but this is definitely a pint-sized Kazutaka Muraki. "I don't know," he says, a little wary, but curious at the stranger. "Are you one of of Grandfather's friends?" he asks.

[alwaysmovingon]

He still knows him when he sees him. And the Doctor sits down and stretches out his legs, looking curiously right back. "Me? Oh, no. I'm a friend of yours, actually. From the future." He doesn't seem concerned about saying this, not to Muraki. Possibly because he wants to see what Muraki will make of it.

[silvereyedphage]

The little fellow cocks his head, gathering his brows in a thoughtful pucker, clearly thinking about this and thinking hard. "The future? Are you a time traveler?" he asks at length, as he pulls himself further out of the cocoon of clothing, still clad in a man-sized grey silk shirt which covers him past his knees but leaves his skinny legs bare below it.

[alwaysmovingon]

The Doctor seems pleased at this conclusion being drawn so quickly. "That I am! Among other things, but, well, that's the simplest explanation." He frowns a little at Muraki. "Though I don't think I've gone anywhere this time, you have. No idea how, either."

[silvereyedphage]

The little guy looks at him puzzled. "I don't know how I could be a time traveler, I'm just a little kid. Maybe I stepped through a special door?" he suggests, perching himself on the windowsill, his feet dangling well off the floor.

[alwaysmovingon]

"A good guess," The Doctor opines, his eyes wide as he rocks his feet back and forth on the table. "Perhaps that's exactly it. Read Narnia, have you? Though of course, a door is a bit - more complicated than a door. When is a door not a door? When it's an interdimensional hole in time, that's when." He musses up his hair and regards Muraki quizzically.

"Well. How are you?"

[silvereyedphage]

"I'm lost," the little guy murmurs, pulling the shirt closer around himself. "And I'm cold too." He shivers a bit and scoots closer to the Doctor for warmth.

[alwaysmovingon]

The Doctor blinks, a little surprised that there is a kid huddling up to him, but he shifts to put his coat around Muraki, shifting to make more room on the couch he was sitting on. "Not lost, just a bit misplaced," he says, and then shakes his head, slightly. "No, don't worry about it. It's just a bit of an adventure, it'll be all right. I'll be around too, keep an eye on things."

[silvereyedphage]

He nestles closer, breathing a little easier. "I'm safe with you," he says. Then looking down at himself, he adds, "But this shirt doesn't fit: it's too big."

[alwaysmovingon]

"So it is," the Doctor says, mildly, still watching Muraki with an echo of sadness in his eyes. "We'd best go find you a new one, haven't we? I think that closet thing will probably let you have some clothes, what do you think?"

[silvereyedphage]

"I would like that, thank you," the little fellow says, hopping down from the windowsill. If the Doctor leads the way, the little fellow follows, his head level with the Doctor's hip.

[alwaysmovingon]

The Doctor does lead the way, heading for the plothole and keeping a close eye on Muraki, not intending to let him out of his sight for - a while, at least. Certainly not until he's full grown again. Which he hopes won't be too long.

Even if he is adorable.

"You're welcome," he says, conversationally. "Wouldn't want you to be uncomfortable - I'd keep those clothes around, though, in case you slip back to where you were last time I saw you. A bit bigger, then."

He flashes that quick, infectious grin.

[silvereyedphage]

The little fellow squinches his eyes in an infantile version of that suspicious, sidelong look he'll give things that puzzle him later on, though now both eyes are engaged, then looks to the Doctor. "Do you think it'll give me something that fits? Grandfather says I'm tiny for my age," he says.

[alwaysmovingon]

"You are pretty small," the Doctor agrees, "Nothing wrong with that, though, just take a bit longer to grow. On your own schedule, eh? I don't think we'll have a problem. It gave me my scarf, after all, and this scarf hasn't been anywhere for years and years. Some clothes for you should be no problem."

By now, perhaps, they've reached the closet, and he opens the door. "You'd better," he says, a bit sheepishly, "I can never seem to focus quite right on one thing. Just think of what you want and reach in and it should be right there."