Weeding - Open Hours at the Herbology Greenhouses.-

[serrulata]

They hadn't been joking.

The plaque really did read 'Minaminaminamino.' Kurama was unsure whether to feel defeated or amused, and settled for a happy medium between both

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[king_of_flirts]

Owen had been keeping plants in Cardiff for a while, since the hub had been destroyed and Jack had vanished off he'd added a hothouse into part of the revamped layout for the place. This meant he could actually look after plants and it made a very nice place to escape to.

He'd brought some of them back with him when he'd brought something else up on Jack's request. There was a little flamethrowing thing that had no name, a determined little meat eating thing that had a pet name of Audrey III and of course there were some more normal things in his little collection like conifers, tropicals and cacti. So it made sense when he saw there were greenhouses he should go and see what was in them. Maybe if he was lucky he could get something new that wasn't alien to grown. As much fun as keeping alien plants was it was getting as normal to him as keeping the normal ones.

"Hello?" He called, seeing if there was actually anyone there.

[serrulata]

"Come in, don't step on the cat," Kurama shouted over his shoulder. He was elbow-deep in tangled overgrown (and now, dying, sadly) mandrakes, pulling out the salvageable plants for re-potting, tossing the dead ones on the floor next to him. He knew the Leopard Cat was prowling around somewhere; one of the tossed mandrakes had landed on her tail.

[king_of_flirts]

Owen wandered in, hands in his pockets. Making sure he wasn't going to step on anything, let alone a cat. He had to admit it was better than the leather pigeon that they had. Pterodactyls as fascinating as they were when you were keeping one as a sort of pet, guard dog kind of thing got old. Very quickly.

"Didn't think there was anyone in here." He said amicably, then noticed the plants. "What they hell are they? I've seen nothing like them before."

[serrulata]

"Mandrakes," he tossed another one to the pile, careful not to look too closely at it. It was bad enough that they looked like shriveled, starved infants when they were healthy, but after months of neglect they were a sight that even tugged his heartstrings. "Good for curing transfigurment and petrification, among other things. At least, when they're healthy." He stood, dusted his hands off on his jeans, and offered one to the newcomer.
"Kurama, newly initiated Professor of Herbology."

[callmewednesday]

En route to check out the grove Mello'd informed him about, Mr. Wednesday passed by the greenhouses.

There was a new plaque at the door. He read it with profound amusement. Hmmm, he really should pay his new colleague a visit, shouldn't he?

Wednesday had a habit of lurking in the shadows at various Sortings, watching whatever went unwarded before approaching the applicant himself. So he'd seen Kurama around, and he'd known what he was seeing when he saw it (e.g., at Yukimura's sorting). But he'd never approached the kitsune himself, for any sort of conversation, ergo he'd never actually gotten a mental glimpse of the kitsune's name. And he certainly wouldn't have made a connection between that and ... what was on the plaque.

Therefore, when he spied the redheaded fox-spirit working away in the greenhouses, the old but not that old, tyvm Mello god's grin only widened. "Professor Minaminaminamino?" he inquired, all surface politeness, lingering at the door.

[serrulata]

Kurama's grip on the pot he was holding tightened just in the slightest, but after a breath he managed to put on a calm and polite face, turning to the voice at the door.

It would Not Do to be rude to a God.

"At your service," he said with a nod, as calmly as he could manage. He was never going to live that new nickname down, he knew it, and he'd have to accept it. His gaze flickered to just above the door, where the Cat was perched, looking down on the gentleman uneasily.

[callmewednesday]

Cats of all species and subspecies belonged to Freyja. (Or to Bast, in Wednesday's more recent experience.) They weren't an animal of his own. Wednesday eyed the creature upon the lintel with a distant respect. "Funny, I've never known a kitsune to pal around with a cat. Maybe someone special's taken a liking to you," he teased, though he didn't sense anything supernatural about the leopard cat. "So, Mr. Kurama, is it? I don't suggest removing the plaque. Chances are you'll find it replaced as quickly as it's removed. It's nice they thought to provide you with one. I have to introduce myself to everyone the old-fashioned way. Mr. Wednesday, professor of Ancient Runes, pleased to make your acquaintance."

[serrulata]

Oh, so he was that God.

"Well met, Professor Wednesday," he set down the plant he had been working on, and motioned for the cat to come to him. Astonishingly, she obeyed.
"I'll keep that in mind about the plaque. I suppose it's better than a room full of dairy," he scratched the Cat's head meditatively, and she continued to stare at Wednesday.

"As for this one, she probably only hangs around because she likes antagonizing me and getting free meals," he said with no small amount of humor. "It's an inevitability I don't have a problem succumbing to."

[edomedpeddler]

Kusuriyuri stood in the doorway a moment, watching the industry within. He knew Kurama knew he was there and would acknowledge him when he was able to. The kitsune had indeed done much to to improve the state of the greenhouses from what he'd last seen them as, just before A built his.

It was interesting, watching him work. It also gave Kusuriyuri more of an idea of which energy he needed to work on containing.

[serrulata]

Kurama had finished weeding and preparing the first bed, and was on his back underneath the thing trying to re-rig the irrigation system that had gone rusty from misuse. When Kusuriyuri entered, he pushed himself out into the aisle and waved, calling a greeting around a screwdriver clenched between his teeth, before returning to the bed and tying off the last bit of tubing.

Once that was finished, he took out the screwdriver, wiped his hands on a spare bit of rag and stood, giving Kusuriyuri a winning smile.
"How was your day?"

[edomedpeddler]

Kusuriyuri knelt near Kurama. "It was mostly pleasant," he replied. "The plants I needed were in bloom. They are in the process of preparing now."

He frowned slightly. "It seems B is two now, and one is a cat." He still was uncertain just what to make of this. He knew it was a highly unstable state of affairs.

[serrulata]

He grimaced, putting his tools away, assessing the damage on the next bed. It could wait. He sat next to Kusuriyuri, close enough to touch but not enough to get dirt and grime all over him.

"I've been told. How long will he be able to stay that way, do you think?"

[elegantsamurai]

"So, where you belong then?" Yukimura drawls from the doorway, leaning on it, his forehead against his upraised arm. "It suits you."

[serrulata]

"I am quite at home," Kurama responded, "though hardly as glamourous as is usually befitting." He gestured to the state of his clothes - covered in dirt, grease, dust and mulch, the same stuff grimed all over his face and hands. "I wouldn't do this in a kimono."

[elegantsamurai]

Yukimura laughs appreciatively. "No, not a kimono. Perhaps a yukata." He steps into the room. "And, really, hair as nice as yours is should be bound up under a kerchief when working like this," he chides.

Yukimura glances around. "So, this is...a greenhose?" he murmurs. With a shrug, he turns back to Kurama. "I'm not a gardener, but there is still much to do? I have two good hands," he says, holding them out with a laugh.

[serrulata]

"Huh, good point..." he had a rose vine unwrap at the base of his neck, pulling his hair up into a ponytail.

"Yes, this is one of several. The first-year students will mostly be studying in here, with some of the less-lethal magical plants. The last professor didn't seem to have the know-how for running a place like this. Here," he handed Yukimura a hand rake and pointed to the bed he'd just finished clearing. "If you would, help me turn the soil here. I'll start at this end, you start there."

[vislor_turlough]

"So they made you herbology professor? Maybe the board isn't completely insane after all," Turlough noted from the doorway.

[serrulata]

"Oh, they find ways to let their collective madness show. Did you get a load of the nameplate?" he said this through a pained smile.

[vislor_turlough]

Turlough leaned back a bit, raising an eyebrow at the name. "So. They make insane hiring choices, then when they do hire someone qualified, they just do insane things. I'm not that surprised, actually." He leaned back in. "Did you know that there are two talking marshmallow creatures among the professors?"

[serrulata]

"Marshmallow creatures, two demons that I know of, and at least one God. And I think whoever was the former Herbology Prof. was an alien or a clone of an alien. I'd be quite disappointed if there was anyone conventionally "normal" working here."