[Gift] 2.5 Happy Ghosts - Alistair and Satin

It was mere days until their event was to occur and Alistair was preoccupied with preparing the final decorations. Outside just a stones throw from the pastures he was working with a number of old torn up sheets they had laying about the manor. A few snips from some scissors left the bottoms even more tattered and a few holes to go with. Once the base was prepared he picked up a paint brush and dipped it into the black paint, carefully drawing faces onto the fabric.

Boots crunched through the grass behind him, causing him to raise his head and glance back. A few drops of paint fell over his makeshift canvas. “Ah Harry there you are!” He grinned, plopping the brush back into its bucket.

“Working on the ghosts?” Harry leaned over his partner, smiling at the sight of the doctor getting absorbed into his decorating. It was nice to see him out of the house more and especially watching him interacting so much with the horses.

“Mmhm, I just finished this little guy, what do you think?” He carefully lifted the sheet up, placing his hand underneath it where they would be filling it with some spare straw to give it a bit more body. The way the brush strokes had turned out however didn’t look particularly frightening, the specter looked more like it was smiling. On top of that the droplets of paint that splattered over its face looked more like cute freckles than anything.

“Not too spooky is he?” Harry chuckled. “I think you made a happy ghost instead of a scary one.” He crossed his arms, grinning at the other.

Alistair snorted and turned the ghost to face him. “Perhaps there is nothing more frightening than joy in the face of death.” That got a laugh out of Harry and he joined in. In the nearby pasture Satin raised her head from her meal and flicked her ears towards them. The mare slowly trotted over to see what the ruckus was about. “Oh hey pretty girl, do you wanna see our new ghost friend?”

Carefully he stepped closer to the fence, uncertain if she would spook at the sight of the moving fabric. Instead she moved right up to the edge of the fence and attempted to nibble at it, causing the two men to chuckle further. “I think she agrees, a bit too friendly to fit the theme. It does look rather cute though, I supposed we could use a couple of these friendly little guys.”

“Well, maybe we can put some of these so-called happy ghosts over by the horses since Satin’s not bothered by them? Then I’ll make something a bit spookier to hang up front instead.”

“Hmm sounds like a good plan, did you want any help?” Harry walked around the various sheets laid across the ground, inspecting Alistair’s work so far. “Excellent job on the bases, they look like the bottom is falling away.”

“Thank you, I tried.” A small blush formed over the doctor’s cheeks as he smiled. “But no, I'm good. If you could put them up for me when I’m done though I’d appreciate it.” He brought the fabric away from Satin before she could manage to get another nip in. As they were chatting Daemon had come to the corner of his own pasture and was softly nickering.

“Alright, I’ll be back in half an hour then to see where you’re at.” Harry said as he stepped away to give Daemon a quick pat before he returned to his own work.

“Spooky he says, need to be scary huh…” Alistair muttered to himself as he tried again, sending long strokes of the brush across the tattered fabric of another sheet. His newest creation had a big dark mouth open in a wail or growl depending on how the sheet shifted. “There we are…” He smirked and carefully picked it up. “So Satin, what about this one?”

The mare perked her ears towards him at his voice but as she caught sight of the ghost she immediately flattened them and snorted before trotting off. “Well I suppose that answers that huh.” Alistair turned the new ghost to look at him, twisting it back and forth and using his fingers to adjust the mouth. “Maybe I could pin it…” He mumbled to himself before returning to finish the rest.