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so if you see something that looks like mistletoe growing in the corner of your doorway
or elsewhere

DONT LET IT SEE YOU
DONT APPROACH IT especially with company
GET AWAY FROM IT or else set it on fire
carefully on fire
ill be along to take care of it later

thanks

[as part of the aftermath of space christmas, there may be some vicious mistletoe hanging around in certain doorways. some of it bites, and some of it growls, and some of it pursues you until you kiss the person you ran into on your way into the kitchen. classic wizard mistletoe prank gone slightly awry but also it's still funny. mistletoe began concentrated mostly on level 5, but it's spread itself upwards and downwards. and into the SEC offices. and elsewhere. feel free to say that you have been assaulted or do some threads of being assaulted in this post/your inboxes/useful log created for this purpose.]

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im getting to it im getting to it
its just aggressive itll be all right

No it won't. It's mistletoe.

yeah
its mistletoe
itll be all right

enthusiastic & a little aggressive but certainly not deadly
unless you try to kiss it no guarantees on what happens to you then

[She's actually only read to 'deadly' when she abruptly flips to voice, tone grit-teeth hard like that can cover up the slightly frantic edge underneath.]

It's deadly for us. For me.

[It's probably pointless to continue the attempts at werewolf secrecy after she's spent a week running around the ship as part of a pack, but she still can't make herself offer any more specific terminology than that.]

You need to get rid of it.

[Wait, what?

The switch to voice takes him momentarily off-guard, but not half so off-guard as her statement.]

Since when--?

[Oh, buggery other werewolf problems and buggery other rules, and standards, right, right right right, and Sirius sucks in a breath that might actually be a little guilty, except then he heaves a sigh straight after.]

It's nowhere near you right now, is it?

Yes.

[Said with all the venom of someone hiding in the corner because there's a deadly magically animated plant blocking the doorway.]

Where are you?

[No teasing, no keep your hair on, et cetera. He's already got his wand in hand, ready to Apparate to-- wherever.]

[The feed cuts to silence again, and then she sends a text, sudden concern that don't let it see you might also extend to don't let it hear you.]

Floor 9 gym.

[That one's easy. Sirius Apparates in two steps, showing what some might find as a surprising amount of wariness, given his usual headlong rush into anything and everything. The threat of splinching because the ship cocked things up is enough of a threat to get a little caution out of him.

So okay: he Apparates first to the gym on floor 5, and then turns right on the spot and Apparates up to the gym on floor 9, where he pops into existence with a loud CRACK and turns again, wand up, ready--]

Cora!

[The gyms on all floors are large spaces. Rows upon rows of equipment, large clear spaces for mats and freeform exercises, punching bags and related. More than enough room to get away from magically animated mistletoe, you'd think, but Cora's feelings towards mistletoe require something close to 40ft to feel even slightly safe. Animated mistletoe, for it not to exist at all.

She'd been coming here to run, and it's in the far corner behind the last treadmill that she's tucked herself, curled in as small as she can (which is smaller than she'll ever acknowledge). She knows as soon as Sirius arrives, all of her senses on high alert to pick up any scent or sound from the mistletoe, and as such her answer is so quick that it practically crosses over with his call.]

Here! [She should stand, she thinks, instead of cowering on the floor like a mouse. But she doesn't move.] I'm here, Sirius, just hurry up and get rid of it.

All right, all right-- I just showed up, honestly--

[A little huffy, but he doesn't actually mean it. If anything, it's somewhat of a relief to hear Cora bitching at him. His wand still up, he moves toward the sound of her voice, trying to pick her out of the dimmer corner.

The mistletoe catches his attention first, stuck fast to the ceiling, long tendrils spread out and trailing down the wall. Its quiet hiss doesn't grow any louder, which is good. It's not yet seen him.

Carefully, he drops into a crouch, still a good ways off from Cora. The mistletoe is between them, a barrier.]

Has it actually seen you, d'you think?

[In some ways Cora had been hoping that Sirius would arrive and immediately do something to resolve the situation - the fact he doesn't, approaches just as cautiously as she's been feeling, only ramps her fear a little higher.

She hates being afraid. Especially of a plant.]

I didn't ask it to check.

[It's a hiss between her teeth, followed by a frantic glance at the mistletoe above them, like that might have been enough to alert it of her presence.]

[Maybe she shouldn't be so afraid, because Sirius takes the moment to pull a little face at her, like a wordless all right, all right, I just showed up, honestly. Surely if there was some danger, he wouldn't take the time to pull faces.

(Maybe.)]

So it can't have, 'cos you'd know if it had. Just-- stay still, all right. Don't so much as glare at me.

[Ha ha, vain hope. He shifts a little to the side, his eyes tracking an invisible line across the ceiling, tracing out--what, exactly? No one will ever know, because Sirius raises his wand, lines up his shot, and--]

Incendio!

[But a very concentrated incendio. There's a quiet whooomp, like a far-off bonfire being lit with the aid of a great deal of petrol, and then fire crackles all across the leaves of the crouching mistletoe. There's an unholy shriek, demonic nails on a demonic blackboard--the fire burns bright at the ceiling for a moment, a mass of flames and crisping leaves, and then--

Quiet. Ash drifts down from the ceiling. Only a scorch mark tells the gory tale. Sirius stares up at the spot, a little mournful.]

There.

[The instruction not to glare at him does, of course, lead her to glare at him - but maybe it's a good distraction, turning her attention from being hyper-focussed on the plant just as he aims a spell at it.

A spell that has her flinch, slightly. And then even more sharply, drawing down into herself and covering her ears with her hands as the plant burns and screams.

It's over for a long few seconds before she opens her eyes again, slowly pulling her hands away from her ears and looking up at Sirius. Further up at the ceiling. His expression is mournful - hers is some mix of dismay and relief, like she hadn't realised the destruction of the thing that was terrifying her would be so familiar on a wholly different fear.

But Sirius doesn't need to know that.]

Are there any more.

[Her voice probably isn't quite as steady as she wants it to be.]

Edited (too many slightlys) 2015-02-12 00:43 (UTC)

[When he drops her gaze to Cora, Sirius realises that he's never seen her look quite like this before. Generally she gives him glares and unimpressed stares. He knows what to do with those.

This--]

Dunno yet. I don't see any.

[Not a very good answer. He's studying her face a little too intently--he realises that next; she'll absolutely notice, in no time at all--]

C'mere. Let's get out of here. They like open spaces best--either open or dark. Stupid buggers.

[He doesn't hold his hand out to her, but he does shove off to approach her, somewhat warily, glancing toward the approaching bits of ceiling.

....and not the ceiling behind him. But. Whatever.]

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