gather and grow [open]

[Xanu Stone]

Xanu walked through the streets with a large jacket and a backpack on. The sound of glass clinking together trailed them as they walked and they kept their eyes on the ground. they were kind of worried about what people might be thinking of them. The sounds that followed them weren't exactly normal of most people. They tried not to think of that as they walked. The clinking was caused by the multiple jars in their backpack. Some of them were already holding things in them and some of them were empty. Today Xanu was hoping to fill a few more.

The jars were all holding ingrediants for different spells. It had become habit to carry them around along with their wand and spellbook. Perhaps the spells weren't practical for pretty much anything, but old habits die hard. Today consisted of a trip to the graveyard in order to gather some supplies. Grave dirt, maggots, beetles, the type of things that usually hung out in graveyards. They just hoped that it was empty today so they wouldn't have people thinking they were crazy. So as they kept their head down and their hands in the pockets of their coat. It seemed that digging through some snow might be required today.

When Xanu arrived at the graveyard they found that their suspicions were correct. Snow coated most of the area. They sighed and pulled out a jar as they walked over to an open grave. There was no coffin in it yet and nobody was around so Xanu hopped into the grave. They scrapped some of the hardened dirt into one of the jars until it was about halfway full. Xanu nodded and then began to look over the walls of the grave. There weren't any obvious bugs so it seemed that they were going to have to find the maggots and beetles elsewhere.

When Xan looked to try and get out of the grave they found that they were just a little above eye level with the edge of the grave. They sighed and tried to pull themself out, only to find that they weren't strong enough. Xanu groaned. They were either going to have to call for help or sit in the grave until they froze to death. That would be convenient wouldn't it? Dying in a grave. "Hello?" They called out. "Um, is anybody there? I could use some help please!" Xanu looked around. They were a little embarrassed about being stuck in a grave. Who knew if anybody was even out there?

[Yurie Van-Houseton]

He did not mind the snow. In fact, he enjoyed it quite a lot. He loved the way that freshly fallen snow, once it gathered enough, would suck out all the sound in the world. It made everything more peaceful and calm. Of course, you can’t get more calm and quiet than standing in a cemetery but snow helps. If only it weren’t so cold though. He wrapped his scarf closer around his reddened cheeks and tugged his knit hat to cover his poor ears.

“The things you make me do.” He muttered under his breath. If they would just believe him then he wouldn’t be standing here now, in front of her grave. Too soon for it to even exist yet here we are.


The faint sound of someone calling out for help started to grab at his attention. Yurie looked around and found no one. Where could it be coming from? A chill ran up his spine, though from the cold or the sudden realization that maybe the Undead would be grabbing at his feet any moment now, he couldn’t say. He’s faced worse, he tried to tell himself. Darkness that ate at his worst fears have come at him full force. Something like a maybe zombie shouldn’t faze him now.


Taking a few steps closer towards the voice, he tried to find its source. On the off chance that it was something dangerous, he conjured up a baseball bat of stardust. His now cosmic colored hand held a tight grip on it, ready to slam it into the face of whatever was out there.


“Hello?” When he heard a reply asking for some help back, he followed it and found an empty grave and a person. A normal person. He sighed in relief and dispersed the bat into nothing. “Are you hurt?” He asked while extending a hand to help the person out of the grave. “What are you doing in a fresh grave?” He wondered as he pulled them up and out of there. 

[Xanu Stone]

After a few seconds of nobody replying Xanu was sure that they were dead. They groaned and slouched down in the grave. After a few seconds of thought they figured maybe there was a spell in there spelllbook that would help them out of the gave. Perhaps a levitation spell or a spell to make them stronger than they were would be useful. They opened their backpack and rooted around trying to find their spelllbook. They we about to pull out the book when they heard a human voice. Xanu perked up and shouldered their backpack. They looked over the edge of the grave to see a boy who looked a little younger than them. He was holding a bat, but it soon dissipated into nothingness. Xan assumed that it had to do with a power that they might have.

The other boy asked if they were alright and Xanu nodded. "Oh, um, no I'm not hurt, just a little cold." they stated and chuckled nervously. Perhaps finding somebody in a grave wasn't the most normal thing, but at least Xanu was getting out. They took the boys hand and were glad to finally be out of the grave. They sat on the ground for a second before standing up and looking at the boy. "Why was I in the grave? Um, well, I needed an ingrediant for a thing I may or may not ever use." They gave the other boy a weak smile and thumbs up as if to show that they were in fact just in the grave for harmless reasons.

Xan shuffled their feet as they looked anywhere but the other person's eyes. They weren't really good at any human interaction, but hey at least this person had gotten them out of the grave. "Hey so, um thanks for getting me out of the grave and all that. If you ever need any ailments healed or plants grown then I'm the person you can call." They chuckled slowly and looked up at the guy again. It occurred to them then that they hadn't introduced themself yet. "Oh, right sorry, I'm Xanu. I use they and them pronouns." Xan explained. They ran a hand through their curly black hair and frowned. They felt like they might be being a little bit awkward with this person they had never met before, which they were a little worried about. They hoped that they weren't so awkward that the new person left or just flat out hated Xan.

[Yurie Van-Houseton]

Getting the person out took a little more force than Yurie was planning on. Not that he was weak or the person was too much of a load or anything, but pulling anyone out of a hole in the ground that was pretty deep placed a lot of pressure on Yurie’s barely healed ankle. Though somehow he managed through the pain and got them out. He let out a deep breath of relief that he held out and didn’t fall in with them.

Yurie tilted his head to the side at their reason for being here. An ingredient? At a graveyard? That seemed a little on the suspicious side but really who was he to say that for sure. Wouldn’t ingredients be better found at the store? Oh! Maybe this person liked to get fresh things… still, a grave wasn’t… didn’t seem to be a good idea to get anything on the edible side. At least that’s what he thought until they mentioned it was for something they might or might not USE. “Oh.” He scrunched his nose. “Is a grave site the only place you can get it?” It seemed a little intrusive on the dead to be rooting around like that, empty grave or not. Not to mention Darkness liked to roam around these sort of places. Though Yurie had to admit that he was now curious on what the person was making. “Do you need any help looking for anything else then?” The short haired brunette waved off their thanks, an easy smile on his face. “It’s no problem.” Helping people was pretty much Yurie’s calling. Blame it on his dad being a police officer or his major guilt issues over Aylin, both are pretty big factors over his need to be of use to others.

“Yurie, nice to meet you.” He nodded to show his compliance over Xanu’s pronoun preference. Shouldn’t be too hard to remember that. Hopefully. “I’m glad you aren’t hurt though. Even if you have weird reasons for being in a grave guess it’s better than having fallen in and broke something you know?” He thought over Xanu’s offer. “Speaking of broken and healing…” He paused, feeling a little bit on the shamed side over having to ask. “Do you think you have anything for pain?” His ankle was killing him now. He hoped wouldn’t swell up again but considering he hadn’t been laying off it as often as he should have… "It's fine if you don't or anything!" 

[Xanu Stone]

When the other boy pulled Xanu out of the hole it seemed he was struggling a bit. Xan assumed it must be because of their weight considering how they weren't the skinniest of people. They bit the inside of their cheek as they worried that the boy was hurt or something because of them. That would just make the whole experience worse. Not only did they get stuck in an open grave, but they hurt the person who got them out. Of course he didn't seem too hurt because Xanu was still out of the grave and he was still standing. That was kind of a win in Xanu's books.

The other boy asked about if they couldn't get it any other place. Xanu shook his head. "Not really. The graveyard is pretty much the only place you can get dirt from a grave." Xanu laughed. Of course a graveyard was the only place he could get his ingredient. It wasn't like they were going to walk into a convenience store and ask if they had it. They could imagine how well that might go over. They were still thinking about this when they realized they had forgotten that they were in a whole different conversation with the boy and it was still going on. Xan really needed to pay better attention to the guy who helped him out of an open grave.

"Other ingredients?" Xanu asked. He thought for a second before he finally remembered that he did indeed come here for more than just grave dirt. Xan pulled off his backpack and grabbed the spell book. He began flipping through the book, looking for the specific spell he was collecting the ingredients for. He found it, one to talk to the dead, and showed the page to the other boy. "See I need grave dirt, maggots, and beetles." They explained. The other boy seemed nice though. He waved off their apology and then stated that his name was Yurie. That was a pretty cool name actually. They had never met anybody with the name Yurie.

Of course then Yurie asked about healing and a wide smile spread across Xan's face. There might not be a lot they were good at with magic, but healing was one things they could do. "Oh, of course I have something for healing! No need to worry there. What kind of healing did you need? I have stuff for long term injuries, short term, broken bones, and headaches. I could probably scrounge up the things for other healing processes if you need them too, but that might take longer." Xanu smiled and began flipping pages and marking off all the ones with healing spells. They wondered what Yurie was hurt with. It was a specific illness then they might need more time than if it was just some random broken bone or some joint that's been bothering him for a while.

[Yurie Van-Houseton]

Yurie smiled a little sheepishly. “Guess that’s sorta true huh.” He could only imagine the stunned faces of a cashier clerk if someone asked them where did they keep the grave dirt. And as the other person listed out the rest of what they still needed, he was more sure that the imagined cashier would phone the police to come get them. Or just be grossed out in general and wave them off like they were a waste of time… that seemed a tiny bit more likely. Hopefully. He wrinkled his nose at the mention of maggots. “That… maggots? Really?” What possible use could anyone have for maggots aside from eating dead flesh and disgust appeal? A cold chill ran down his spine just thinking about those things. Crawling and nibbling at everything. Beetles he could handle. Maggots on the other hand…. No. Just no. Although it did pique his curiosity more at just what Xan was making. “What do you need all of it for?” He asked, wondering if he would get a roundabout answer or the truth.

He returned the bright smile Xanu gave him with his own relieved one. A healer? He’d never seen or even heard of one of those before. And he’s seen a lot of powers come through the Chaser Academy. It must be nice not to have to worry so much when you’re hurt if you can fix yourself up with a few things. “Oh. It’s just my ankle.” Honestly, he didn’t need Xanu to heal it if it was going to take up too much of his time and supplies. Plus it’d take a while to fix everything that needing healing up in Yurie. “I might have twisted it a while back from running.” Might have? He did. Running with his little sister to get out of a Razor’s path before it sliced them up to bits. That had been an oh so fun night. He still has nightmares about it. “Really I just need a simple anything… like um… something to numb it would be nice.” Anything that would get rid of the pain would be much loved in his book, really.

He sat down, his ankle finally getting a little too sore for his liking, and watched Xanu flip through all the pages in their book. “Are you like a witch? Erm, wizard?” They had a book that looked like it was filled with all kinds of, well, from where he was standing he couldn’t make out most of the words but…

The more he thought about it, he knows someone else that could use a bit of healing. “My brother, he’s older by two years. He gets a lot of bruises. Kind of a clumsy guy, really.” Seriously, it was a good day if Izzy didn’t come home with than three bruises decorating his skin… ok that may be a little bit of an exaggeration but the point stands that his brother gets hurt more often than him and his little sister do.

[Xanu Stone]

Xanu watched Yurie and when they mentioned the maggots it seemed like he was a little grossed out by that. Xanu bit their tongue and wondered if they had just completely ruined everything by grossing him out. They worried about their chances for making friends with Yurie when the boy asked what they needed the ingredients for. "Oh, I-I need them for a spell. To talk to dead people. Well I don't really need them, but I might need them later so better get them now rather than scramble to find them later." They tried to explain. They would most likely never have use for the spell, but gathering ingredients for spells they didn't need seemed like a common thing for them.

The idea of healing people made Xan happy and the smile that Yurie gave them reassured their worries about ruining any possible friendship they might have with the guy in the future. He mentioned his ankle and Xanu finally knew what he was looking for. It sounded like an older injury so he knew he had the supplies for it, but it also seemed like Yurie might just want some pain numbing medicine. Xanu figured that if he could get rid of the injury completely then that would get rid of any pain Yurie might be in. They stopped on the page for old injuries and marked off the one for pain numbing in case they didn't preform the spell right.

When Yurie asked if they were a witch, and then switch to wizard, Xanu laughed. "You can call me whatever you want, but yeah I guess I am. I use spells and magic and all that so I guess I'm a witch." Xanu shrugged. Their father had always just said that they were able to use magic, but now that Xan actually considered it they supposed that they were kind of a witch. They even had to use a wand to preform their spells.

As Xanu pulled out the different jars of supplies they needed for the healing spell Yurie started talking about his brother. Xan couldn't remember ever meeting somebody that looked like they might be related to Yurie, but then again they never really remembered a lot of things. The bruises and clumsiness were interesting. Xanu wondered if they had a spell to stop something like that from happening. A protection spell might aid in delaying the bruises, but if the brother really was that clumsy then there might be nothing that Xanu could do.

Finally Xanu had all of their jars and items for healing. Their were some dried blueberries, chamomile leaves, frog eyes, and lavender blossoms sitting in the jars before them. The frog eyes had been gross to collect, but everything else had been easy enough. They grew pretty much everything at their house so the plants weren't hard to find, it was just a matter of catching frogs. "If you want a spell for your brother then I might have to think a little, but right now I have some things for your ankle. It might be a little weird though with the spells and everything so I hope you don't mind." Xanu explained. Sometimes people didn't like their magic so they tried to remember to warn people before they preformed the spells on people they didn't know.