All Hallows Haunt and All Must Have Fun

[concierge]

The fog had begun near the dusk hours, coating all the plants and flowers in the garden. It settled, heavy, and blanketed everything with a new cover that was only matched in mood by the graveyard that had unearthed itself from the grass and the moss. Names were etched on each gravestone, but the most unnerving part was that every few steps, if you stopped and listened very, very carefully, you might hear a knock of a human hand against hard wood. It was almost as if the dead were being called upwards.

The maze stood normal, but inside around the corners, there were things lurking and waiting.

Outside might have become frightening and gloomy, but the contrast to indoors was stark. Inside, carved pumpkins lit with candles turned the ballroom and restaurants into amber-lit abodes, costumed partygoers twirled to the music played by the band in the lobby (while the DJ had set up in the conservatory). Candy and small hors d'oeuvres circulated on the trays of immaculately clad waiters and though outside it was stormy, foggy, and spooky, inside was a delight of themed drinks, delicious food, and the manic and half-crazed mood of people in the midst of their fun.

The party for Halloween had begun.

And there was no telling when it might ever end.

Comments

[roartonrisen]

Oh god, he's living in a Harry Potter novel, suddenly.

Kieren flashes the boy a look of alarm, debating whether he wants to engage in the crazy or whether he's content to simply let it go. He knows that he doesn't want to be out here alone, though, so he breathes and decides to dive in the deep end. "What's Inferi?" he asks, eyes on that wand as he decides how ridiculous this is (and how much he privately enjoys it).

[prongsdefiant]

"Undead. Corpses that a Death Eater or some other dark wizard have reanimated to do their will. They're nasty little blighters and you don't want any around you if you can possibly help it." Unfortunately, that didn't help most of his compatriots in a pinch; nobody wanted Inferi around but they just seemed to show up anyway.

"You're not a Muggle, are you? If you are, sorry. Magic is real and I'm a wizard. Best way to stay alive is to keep close."

[roartonrisen]

Kieren coughs. "I'm ah, undead," he admits with a raise of his hand like he prefers to introduce himself like that, even though he feels as if they're about to wander into some very strange territory. "I believe in...well, something. Not magic," he clarifies. "But I rose from the grave, so I can't exactly say I don't believe in anything."

[prongsdefiant]

James narrowed his eyes a little and watched him for a moment, trying to decide what the best plan of attack would be. It seemed like he'd been scared a minute ago with the sounds coming out of the garden and that didn't seem to hold water with the idea of him being an Inferi. There was also the fact that he could carry on a proper conversation - that wasn't something James thought most undead could do.

"How'd that happen, mate? I'm a little skeptical."

[roartonrisen]

"I don't exactly know what triggered the Rising or made it happen," Kieren confesses, which is something that he knows plagues at Simon a lot. For Kieren's part, he just doesn't overly think about it because he can't put much sense into it. "One day, everyone who'd died in the last year rose from their graves, including me." He holds both hands up so he doesn't get shot or wanded or whatever magic term happens. He turns, just enough for him to see the hole.

"That's where my medication goes in," he says. "To keep me from going rabid and attacking people."

[prongsdefiant]

"That's not really helping me," James pointed out. Still, he lowered his wand a little and decided that if he wanted to kill him, telling him this ridiculous story wasn't really the way to do it. He would just, you know, kill him. Besides, he wasn't like any Inferi he'd seen before because he could talk and walk and did something other than lumber around mindlessly.

"Do you still take it? Your medication?"

[roartonrisen]

"Have to, every day," Kieren agrees, feeling slightly numb to talk about it. He rubs a hand over his cool skin and isn't sure what else he can say about this. "It's what prevents me from going rabid," he says, listening carefully to the knocking of the coffins beneath him. "It's what keeps me from doing what I think these people are doing. Rising from the graves," he says, and thinks to himself and being so, so hungry.

[prongsdefiant]

"Wouldn't happen to have any of that medicine on you, would you?" That would be convenient and very little about James' life was convenient of late. Mostly, his life was one disaster after another strung together by unspeakable horror and sorrow. Most of his friends had faced a Dark Wizard at least once, not to mention the various other minions in Death Eater employ.

"It'd be convenient."

[roartonrisen]

"Not exactly, plus it's not like they've got the convenient entry locations that I've been so lovingly gifted with," Kieren notes with mild sarcasm. He's grateful to be himself again, happy to not be rabid, but the whole process of getting him to where he is had been...difficult, to say the least. The nightmares don't really go away, either. "I know this sounds cowardly, but maybe we ought to round up anyone outside and find a well-secured place indoors?"

[prongsdefiant]

"And do what? Wait for the blighters to break through? We should be thinking offensively," James said, pushing his glasses up his nose. They'd always been supremely annoying, his glasses, but he didn't trust a mediwizard with his vision.

"I, for one, don't want to sit around and wait to die."

[roartonrisen]

"They're people," Kieren says emphatically, a desperate edge in his voice. "Going on the offensive might hurt someone. We need to find help, find some way to sedate them until we can cure them." If they're his sort of undead, if they're PDS, then hurting them and killing them is just more violence. "I don't want to do any more harm to anyone when it doesn't have to be done."

[prongsdefiant]

"Sometimes it's better to just blanket fire on everything and hope for the best. There's no coming back from being an inferi, mate. Nothing at all. If you want to go check them out and see if they're less bitey and more friendly, be my guest."

James wasn't going to risk it. Not for someone he didn't know.

[roartonrisen]

"There is coming back from PDS," Kieren argues heatedly, feeling like he's back near the Den with Rick all over again, except this time the handsome bloke in front of him probably won't haul off just because Kieren's asked for it. "Fine, if you're insisting I check it out, then I'll check it out."

If he's lucky, they'll be like him and recognise him as a friend and not something to tear apart and pick the brains out of.

[prongsdefiant]

James followed behind. If this fellow took point and James was behind with wand at the ready, perhaps they would come out of it with little more than claw marks and curse scorches for their troubles.

"You can talk to them when they're like this? All...lumbering and groaning?"

[roartonrisen]

"I can talk, but they might not listen," Kieren admits, breathing in with some difficulty as he lumbers off towards the graves, perching on one of them as he tries not to let nostalgia kick in. It's really not normal to be nostalgic about someone sitting on your grave. "They might recognise a kindred spirit, though," he says, gesturing to his pale face and his white eyes. "It's worked before."

[prongsdefiant]

"Better you than me, mate." James had seen his fair share of wizards overwhelmed and torn apart by Inferi and he did not want to become one of their number.

"I'll back you up if you want to give it a try."

[roartonrisen]

Kieren snorts, glancing over his shoulder as he takes another booted step towards the grave. "This is rich," he says, half to himself. "No one's going to believe me if I say I've been off fighting PDS sufferers while someone waves about a wand behind me." He still thinks he'll be happy to tell a story, because it means he'll be alive. With a sigh, Kieren nods. "Come on, then," he says. "If they're breaking through the dirt, they're going to be hungry. We'll need to try and reason with them. Or...something."

[prongsdefiant]

"Hungry. What exactly do they eat?"

James had a sneaking suspicion that alive-and-well wizard was on the menu and he didn't think that the risen dead necessarily cared if he was roasted or not before that happened. Not the way he wanted to meet his bitter end, not by far.

[roartonrisen]

Kieren shoots a look over his shoulder that says he really doesn't want to know. "Brains, mostly. Organs," he says, stomach turning over to recall that he'd wanted those things and had done his absolute best to get them when he was still hunting with Amy at his side. "It's...not pretty."

[prongsdefiant]

James wondered if it would be cowardly of him to just let the guy deal with it on his own. After all, he seemed to want to help the blighters instead of saving his own skin and James, while he could understand trying to save someone from even the brink of death, liked to think about keeping himself and others safe. Sometimes sacrifices had to be made. Still, he was a Gryffindor, so he swallowed thickly and nodded.

"Well, I've got your back. Go...try something."

[roartonrisen]

Kieren turns and faces the graves with a fraught look on his face, not entirely sure he wants to keep going with this, but he's sort of come this way already. Might as well go for broke, right? Clearing his throat, Kieren wanders into the middle of things. "Uh, hello? If anyone's down there," he begins warily, "we're not here to hurt you. We just want to talk or..." He draws out the 'or' while he tries to think of something. "Look, I'm like you. And you might think you want to come up here, but it's not what you expect. It's hungry and cold and terrifying and lonely," he gets out.

"And you'll be different, which isn't bad, but it's hard."

He listens and the knocking is diminishing slightly. Kieren wishes that he didn't wish that Amy had done this, had knocked from the coffin to let them know she'd only been playing. His face falling, he sinks into a perch on one of the stones. "I'm not a messiah or a saviour or anything, I'm just...like you, is all."

[prongsdefiant]

James lowered his wand slightly and just listened. While he had been prepared to take on a mindless horde all on his own, this was a little sad and a little too real for his comfort.

"You all right over there?"

[roartonrisen]

Kieren is struggling to listen, but the sound's stopped so either they've all decided to listen to him or they've gone back to sleep. He's not sure which of the two he prefers, but both ways means he gets to survive, so he'll take it as a win. "I think so?" he manages, staring at the area around them. "I don't hear it anymore, the knocking."

[prongsdefiant]

"They're not ready to come out and join the party, I guess?"

James still did not want to let down his guard but he did loosen his vice grip on his wand. "That's too bad, really. They've got some decent food up there."

[roartonrisen]

Kieren's gaze wanders up to James' head, right to the tip, and he gives him a frantically disbelieving look, as if he can't honestly trust what he's saying right now. "Right," he notes, dripping with wariness and sarcasm, "well, if you want them to feast on your brains and talk about how good they taste, I can stomp a bit?"