The Bear and Barnacle

Dora finally finishes up carving her pumpkin then giggles at a stray bit of pumpkin goo that's clinging to the surface.

"Eww, Teddy has a bogey," she giggles then she wipes it off with the arm of her shirt which is already heavily stained with orange bits and blobs.

She snatches the box of matches when Jack's attention is on Val and she easily strikes a match and lights her candle. Ignoring Jack's belated protests about how he should be doing that, she blows out the match and drops the candle into her pumpkin.

When it shows off the design with a warm orange glow, she grins then hollers, "IAGO! XELLOS! I'm DONE! COME SEEEEEE!"

The blue and gold macaw sitting on the back of her chair startles at the sudden yelling and flicks some pumpkin guts from one of his wings at the back of Dora's head.

Val is very pleased with his pumpkin effort. Even though it didn't actually work to bite the design into the rind, it has a very nice effect now that Jack cautiously let him have a knife.



At first he sort of wished the fire were a different color, but since it's occurred to him that the pumpkin will perhaps catch alight, and will certainly eventually rot and shrivel, maybe that shade's all right after all. ^,^

Er. And this is, what exactly?

Sucking a bleeding thumb, Cesare glares over his shoulder. "Well, what does it look like?"

I don't know; you tell me. An ass on a pumpkin? Miquel straddles a chair, props his chin on the backrest.

"That's the Borgia bull, you git." Cesare squints. It does look a bit like an ass, true, but then carving the thing was a bitch. Really, as a cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, he should be above such heathen rites. Ridiculous; positively ridiculous. Not to mention the smell of pumpkin everywhere. He may need a grappa soon.

Which, historically speaking, used to be a peaceful, grazing ox... at least while your grand-uncle was alive. No es verdad?

"An ox. You are fucking mental."

And you are starting to sound like a native, Miquel beams. You never used to be that thick. Venga, venga. Why not show me ( whether it's a bull or an ox? )

Teddy was at the table of the small but cosy flat he shared with Victoire, wand drawn and expression thoughtful. He liked to help carve pumpkins with the Weasleys during previous Halloweens and it was a practice in precision with magic, besides.

One pumpkin sat before him, clean and bare, as the young man thought of what to do this year. But then he smiled, raised his wand again and began, swishing and flicking, pointing and a bit of prodding. The pile of shavings and chunks was levitated off to one side as he worked. Teddy leaned close as he worked the more delicate details, tracing the surface of the pumpkin with his wandtip, lightly scoring it. At last, he finished with a finalising tap and it immediately started to glow from within.

He broke into a pleased grin, and hoped dear old Dad wouldn't mind the pumpkin tonight.

The Joker sat on the ground outside the pub, looking angry and frustrated. Several of his knives lay on a pile of orange goo & seeds. Despite his propensity for knives, and his normal skill with them, this damn Halloween Pumpkin thing seemed to be beyond him. He had hacked diligently at it for a while, cleaning out the guts (though not very well), attempting eyes, then a nose, then a smile. It had been the smile where he might have gotten carried away. He ended up slicing the pumpkin almost in half. Tried to fix it, made it worse. And then came the throwing.

Holmes sits in his no-longer-spotless kitchen. "Art in the blood is liable to take the strangest forms."

Rincewind found them floating in a tidal pool. He’d been walking along the beach and spotted several orange things just bobbing in the shallow water. Upon further investigation, they’d turned out to be pumpkins, which as far as Rincewind knew were not normally sea-dwelling vegetables. (Unless they’re fruits). A slender white stick bobbed there as well. He’d picked it up, not really thinking, and stuck it in his hat. He’d also picked up the largest of the pumpkins and taken it back to the pub. Not knowing precisely why he was doing this, Rincewind snuck into the kitchen and helped himself to several sizes of knife. He spent a good fifteen minutes pacing back and forth in front of the table. “AH!” Struck by inspiration (it does happen!) he went at the pumpkin busily for an hour or so. There was a mess of seeds, string and bits of pumpkin strewn about when he was done, but Rincewind was delighted. “I shall call it: “A Tribute to Reg Shoe!”

Celebrate All Hallows' Eve! From the charming traditions surrounding this unholy holy day, we have selected that which will no doubt be most appealing to many of us. Come join us!

For purposes of the Bear and Barnacle celebrations, Iago and Xellos have brought in a load of these:



Each member of the community shall carve a pumpkin for brief posterity and post it to the community. Real photos/photomanips/oil paintings/crayon drawings are welcomed, but you may find this tool helpful if you have a shortage of pumpkins and/or access to sharp objects: Pumpkin Carving Game. Just copy the URL that appears after clicking the "done" button and post the link to your character's creation.

The tag is "pumpkins". Have fun!