OPEN MINGLE

[parodeity]

WHO: EVERYONE...
WHERE: the garden area generally!
WHEN: all month but particularly evenings
WHAT: pumpkin carving & trick or treat. also the skeletons are like There i guess
WARNINGS: probably badly carved pumpkins

Welcome to the garden! It looks pretty much as usual, except with more...spooky designs? There are a bunch of pumpkins gathered onto a table Dave dragged in, and he's hung up some truly shitty artwork of ghosts and various Halloween monsters. There's also a vague attempt at some paper chain decorations, which may be improved upon by people more capable of doing that.

He's also supplied carving tools (finally, a fucking use for his Pile Of Knives, thank you harpy quest) and some paint so people can trace out what they want to carve or like...just Go For It. Or paint the pumpkins. The world is your oyster.

It seems like the entire garden area (which takes up maybe two plots of land at this point) has been surrounded with a crude and somewhat shoddy fence, but it seems to be capable of keeping the skeletons out of the garden. It does look like the shambling skeleton horde sort of walked all over the strawberry patch before Dave put up skeleton defenses, though. Bummer.

The trick or treat trail has an actual trail with places for treat givers to hand out treats, with little signs posted in the various areas. There's the Strawberry Kingdom (with sadly trampled strawberries), the Onion Grove, and so on and so forth. People can even pick up really shitty maps for the trick or treat trail, even though you can literally see the entire thing just by glancing. The map sells the experience.

You can:
1) Carve pumpkins! There even seems to be some sort of pumpkin carving contest going on? The prize is a pet rock, though, so like. Maybe don't get too excited.
2) Paint pumpkins, if you're a loser who doesn't want to carve them.
3) Hand out treats!
4) Accept treats!
5) Pull tricks if you are so inclined?
6) Shore up the garden defenses if a shambling skeleton manages to finally knock over some fence. Please protect the plants, we eat those.
7) Just like, gaze at the shambling skeleton army outside the fences. It's a very nice view, maybe.
8) Do whatever you want, basically.

Comments

yellow

[troubadamsel]

i

[Okay, flower necklaces were hard, but surely making a face will be much easier! She is Maribelle, noble and intelligent Maribelle, and she... has totally made the pumpkin cave in because she made too many holes.]

And people do this for fun?! This holiday makes no sense!

[so be it... but she won't give up!]

ii

[she gave up.

but painting IS something she can do, at least.]

Hmmm... I need a bit more yellow to really highlight Lissa's features. And some pink for her adorable cheeks! I must say, this is a little easier than using a straight easel, since this has the near-shape of a human head. How clever!

iii

Have you been treated yet?

[She hasn't memorized everyone's colors yet, so she's mostly just going around to people and asking this. hope she's not interrupting anything.]

If not, I have a most grand treat for you!

iv

[SKELETON WARRRRRRR - okay but this feels less like a war and more like an extremely dull training session. She has her tome out - lightning this time - but all she has to do is flatly say the spell and a spear of lightning comes out to knock one over.]

Thunder.

Thunder.

Thunder.

... I think my wrist is getting sore. I do hate to complain but... are we really "fending" them off, or using them as target practice?

iv

[thinshadowed]

[ The familiar flash and crackle of lightning magic catches his eye, and Ari ends up wandering over to Maribelle's personal bout of target practice. ]

> "Hello."

[ People don't often notice his approach, but Ari does his best to announce his presence in advance to avoid startling her. The last thing he wants is to end up lightning bolt-ed like one of those skeletons. ]

> "They kind of just fall over, huh?"

[troubadamsel]

[The slow approach is appreciated, and she momentarily closes her tome, deciding to take a break.]

Yes, they're not exactly the most dangerous foe we've ever faced... It almost feels like a chore instead of a battle.

[thinshadowed]

> "You've fought other things in town?"

[ He asks, since he hasn't been here long enough to have much of a frame of reference. It's a worrying thought, however, that monsters might just show up at any time. ]

[troubadamsel]

Oh yes. Every month there are new monsters in the forest to defeat, but sometimes dangerous things come to our shores, like sirens and werewolves.

[thinshadowed]

[ That... isn't good. It's rather alarming, in fact. Maybe he shouldn't have left his sword behind in his room, back at his Flavo cottage. ]

> "What about ghosts?"

[troubadamsel]

I don't think we've seen any of those... Not in the usual sense, anyway.

[isn't that reassuring?]

i!

[averagemedium]

Mostly for fun these days, yeah, but they used to have other purposes. Here, save the insides from that one, we can use those later--

['Tis the season to cook Pumpkin Everything and he's not about to miss out on it.

He fetches another pumpkin, though, talking as he starts to cut off the top of it.]

You just have to be careful with how many holes you make, y'know? It's easiest to draw it out first and see how much you're going to cut out, and if it's too much then you make the design a little simpler.

[troubadamsel]

[Hey housemate. She pouts, but allows him to 'help'.]

Have you done this sort of thing before?

[averagemedium]

It's a pretty common thing to do back where I'm from, at least when they're in season-- we do it for a specific holiday.

[Off goes the pumpkin top, and he's just going to go ahead and take care of scooping it out while he's at it.]

You don't have something like that, I'm guessing?

[troubadamsel]

[She shakes her head.]

We don't have a holiday celebrating the dead and ghoulish... though I can think of one or two of my comrades who would enjoy such a thing.

[averagemedium]

It isn't always like that. I mean- for some people it's about trying to scare others, sure, but it used to be about the dividing line between us and the other side getting weaker. Some people believe their relatives' spirits can come back to visit them around that time, even.

[Once the pumpkin's hollowed out, he gestures to it:]

These have nothing to do with that last part, though. People believed carving faces in them scared off bad spirits, but now it's just for decoration.

[troubadamsel]

[All right, the relative spirits deal does sound a little sweet. she can think of someone she'd love to see again.]

It is amazing how traditions can change over time. Perhaps in another century, this will evolve into something even more bizarre.

iv

[queenofminiskirts]

[Kaoru sighs and flicks a finger and another skeleton falls down.]

You know, video games make defeating hoards of weak enemies look so fun.

[But it's really boring???]

Shearing sheep was actually more fun. [At least some of the sheep could breathe fire.]

[troubadamsel]

To me, it seems a little suspicious. All out or other foes have been difficult... why go easy on us now?

[queenofminiskirts]

...now that you mention it. That does seem suspicious.

[troubadamsel]

Especially compared to all the other horrific monsters we've had to fight... this is child's play.

[queenofminiskirts]

[She knocks down another skeleton.]

Maybe part way through the month they'll transform?

[She watches the skeletons on the ground sort of twitch and couldn't imagine how these things could become stronger at all.]

[troubadamsel]

Maybe... oh, I do hope we're not inviting trouble by saying so.

[doesn't that always happen in stories, bring it by speaking it?]

i

[doublecrowss]

[ Fear not, Maribelle, your hero has arrived!!

... okay, so she's not quite a damsel in distress and thus there is no need for heroes, but that pumpkin looks like catastrophe itself, so here's Akechi, with a brand new one under an arm and carving tools in one hand. ]

I admit I haven't been very successful at pumpkin carving so far, either. Perhaps we could give this a try together, Maribelle-san?

[troubadamsel]

[She wants to be grateful, but...]

... Two wrongs rarely make a right, but I suppose it couldn't make things worse.

[doublecrowss]

[ Oh, good, Maribelle can't tell he's being fake modest! That'll make his showing off less obvious. ]

If we're going with popular adages, I prefer "practice makes perfect" myself!

[ So he sits down by her side and places the pumpkin between them. ]

Now, let's see: where do you think you went wrong last time? As long as we don't make the same mistake, we should be successful.

[troubadamsel]

[She cups her chin in thought.]

Well... I admit, the most trouble was with the mouth. I was trying to go for jagged teeth, but the next thing I knew, the entire thing capsized in itself.

[doublecrowss]

Hmm...

[ He briefly scans the remainders of the pumpkin Maribelle had been trying to work on before, trying to spot what the issue really was. ]

Were you perhaps trying to make the mouth too wide? If so, it's likely that the pumpkin lost support and capsized like that... So, how about we go for a smaller mouth this time?

[troubadamsel]

It's worth a try. And even small things can be spooky-looking.