Work Text:
"Let's see here…" Brock said, heading to his garden and entering. It was getting to be fall, which meant it was time to harvest the crops he had been working on growing all year. He smiles as he sees all of his crops, walking over to the white pumpkins near the gate and patting one, chuckling when its silvery vine gently wrapped around his arm. He frowned as a shadow flew over him, looking up.
"INCOMING!" shouted a voice, a loud thud being heard minutes later. Brock spun around and sighed, facepalming.
"Evan, what the hell are you doing?" asked Brock, watching as the owl-like harpy pulled himself out of the vines of crystal grapes he had landed in.
"I came to help you harvest your crops! Brian told me it was around that time of year….." said Evan, grinning as he slung an arm over Brock's shoulders. Brock sighed again, pinching the bridge of his nose and reminding himself to cast an invisibility spell on Brian's head so he couldn't find it.
"Evan, please tell me you're the only one here….." Brock asked, immediately regretting it as a shrill shriek was heard, followed by a familiar figure landing in the garden. The figure immediately bounced back into the air, landing on the solid ground just to the left of where he initially landed. "DELIRIOUS! I swear if you hurt my jumping beans-!" said Brock, rushing over to check on the stalks of black-colored beans.
"I'm okay!" said Delirious, sitting up and shaking himself before being helped up by Evan. He looked over as the gate opened, Tyler and Nogla entering.
"Is everyone just going to enter my garden uninvited?!" asked Brock, sighing and rubbing his temples.
"Come on, let us help you!" said Nogla, scratching one of his horns. Brock tried to argue, but gave up.
"Fine… Just be careful, as some of my plants aren't the friendliest…." Brock said, snapping his fingers. The door of the nearby shed opened and several baskets floated out, landing in the arms of the others. They looked at each other, then spread out around the garden to help harvest the crops.
Brock focused on his pumpkins, smiling as his wheelbarrow rolled over and he gently picked up one of the pumpkins, laughing as its vines wrapped around his arm. He gently removed the vines, picking up two more pumpkins and putting them in the wheelbarrow before a scream caught his attention. He looked over to find Delirious having trouble with the beans, many of them bouncing around as Delirious had one of the stalks in his hands.
"Delirious, let me help…." said Brock, walking over to his struggling friend. He gently made Delirious release the stalk, which quickly snapped back into place. Brock grabbed a basket of his own and helped Delirious catch the bouncing beans as they jumped into the air. Brock then showed him how to properly harvest the beans, grabbing one of the stalks and gently shaking the stems from the bottom up, holding the basket right under the stem he was shaking to make sure the beans didn't bounce around wildly like before.
After making sure Delirious was alright he went back to pick a couple more pumpkins, jumping when he tried to put a smaller one on top of the three large ones he had already harvested. He glared down at the laughing head now in his wheelbarrow, glancing over at the shaking headless body on the other side of the fence. Brock put the pumpkin down beside the head and picked it up.
"Really Brian? Was that necessary?" he asked, walking over to the body and placing his friend's head on it.
"Aw, come on Brock! That was funny!" said Brian, leaning on the fence. Brock rolled his eyes and finished harvesting his pumpkins, dusting the powdered sugar from them off of his hands and going over to help Evan with the grapes as the wheelbarrow takes the pumpkins to his kitchen door.
"Evan, you can't just pull on them or else they'll shatter…. You have to loosen them, like this…" said Brock, stepping up beside Evan and grabbing one of the clusters on the vine. He grabbed one of the crystalline grapes between his fingers and wiggled it, the grape eventually popping off the cluster without cracking or shattering. Evan nodded, following Brock's instructions as he harvested the grapes.
"Um, Brock? This tree is bare…" said Nogla, pointing up to the tree he was under. Brock looked over from helping Tyler pick the peanut squash nearby. He looked up at the tree, then smiled.
"That's because that's my Autumnal Apple Tree… the apples won't start growing until the leaves start changing next week… we'll pick them at the peak of the color change, as that's when they taste best and will actually be ready to harvest…" said Brock, humming as he approached a writhing shrub-like tree. The tree lashed out at him, though it calmed when Brock patted it's trunk and let him pick the blood-red fruit it was growing.
"Hey Brock, you're lucky Squirrel isn't here! He would be eating all of these!" said Delirious, laughing as he climbed another tree to harvest the pupa-shaped nuts it was growing.
"More for us Delirious!" Brock answered, laughing as he waved to Marcel, Scotty, Anthony and Liz as they arrived to help prepare the food for their annual Fall Harvest Feast. He noted that they were missing someone, but before he could ask Liz spoke.
"Toonz will be by later with the girls, he's busy hunting jackalopes for the feast…." she said, walking over and nuzzling Delirious once he climbed down from the tree he was in. Brock nodded and entered his kitchen, waving his hand as he grabbed one of the books on the nearby shelf. Multiple utensils, bowls, pots, and other cooking tools exited their homes, some setting themselves on the counters while others immediately got to work with helping prepare the vegetables and fruits already harvested.
"Hey Brock, anyone harvested the carrots yet?" called Marcel, looking over at the section of the garden cut off from the rest of it.
"Not yet! Think you can handle them Marcel? Those things aren't very friendly, even to me….." said Brock, peeking out the kitchen door and frowning as he looked over towards the section. He had always hated trying to harvest the dragon carrots in his garden, even if they were his favorite vegetable.
"I got them! Here Scott, help Brock with getting things ready….." Marcel said, kneeling down to let Scotty off of his back and into a chair that sat outside of the kitchen. Marcel then stood back up and galloped over to the fence, leaping over it into the enclosure housing the carrots. Immediately the leaves of said carrots awoke and roared at him, trying to attack him as Brock sat down with Scotty and Panda, the three of them working on breaking the shells of the peanut squash and scooping the insides into bowls.
"I love when we have get-togethers like this… I miss being able to hang out with you guys after you moved away from the ocean….." said Scotty, moving his tail slightly as Brian sat on the ground beside them.
"That's why I came up with the idea for us to gather every season, so we can still see each other even when we live so far away….. now if only Evan would stop dropping by whenever I'm trying out a new spell…." said Brock, the others laughing as they remembered the last time Evan had interrupted one of Brock's spell sessions, the owl-like harpy having been turned pink for three days before said spell had eventually wore off. However, despite getting on each other's nerves at times, Brock loved his friends. This year's harvest was, in Brock's opinion, the best ever because his friends had come early to help him, and he hoped they could eventually turn it into a tradition for years to come.