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 Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 2:11 pm
"Why'd you have to pick such a heavy pumpkin, Orli?" asked Ranza, balancing the gourd against her stomach as she picked her way back towards the tables, trying very hard not to trip over vines, or put her foot through a squash, or step on her sister. It was getting sort of dark, so it was easier said than done.
"It's the best one," said Orli stubbornly. Halloween was officially her favorite holiday (Nah said Christmas was better, but of the three siblings, he was the only one who had ever experienced such a thing). What could possibly be better than dressing up in a costume, eating free candy, and going to a party with all her friends from Liberty Center? Absolutely nothing. Orli was a pilot, but not one like in the movies because they didn't make orange jumpsuits in her size, so her costume was brown, with a utility belt and some of mom's rank pins from back when she was in military school clipped to it. Ranza was a pirate, but Ranza was always a pirate, so it wasn't really dressing up.
They made their way back to the table.
"What do you want to carve in it?" asked Ranza.
"A space ship," said Orli.
"You can't carve a space ship on a halloween pumpkin," scowled Ranza, cutting a circle around the lid and grabbing a pair of scoops. "Here, help me get all the guts out."
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Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 2:36 pm
Austin glared back at where Jake was enjoying a beer with his brother, bored out of his mind. This was supposed to be a party, right? Well he was darn well going to enjoy it!
That's why he had poked his plastic pirate blade into the back of the pretty boy prince's knee and smirked up at him. "You'll be showin' me 'ow ta' do that, aye?" he said, pointing at the table where there were carved pumpkins to be judged.
Antony blinked down at him, raising an eyebrow slowly. "I will?" he finally said.
"Aye! Forward!" Austin said, feeling even more piratey than ever in his special pirate outfit, most of it stolen from Jake's old stuff. It was far too big for him, but he didn't care.
"You need a pumpkin," Antony said, sighing inwardly. Whoever the heck this little twerp was, it looked like he was stuck with him.
"That one!" Austin said, pointing at random before racing off to grab it. It almost knocked him over, but he gritted his teeth and started for the table. The blue boy would have to follow.
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Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 2:51 pm
There was a growing pile of pumpkin guts next to them by the time anyone else showed up at the table. Ranza looked the newcomers up and down as Orli continued to scoop. Why was the younger one carrying the pumpkin? The older boy looked like such a pretty boy wuss.
"Why's your little brother doing all the heavy lifting?" she asked, assuming they were siblings despite them looking nothing alike. As they came closer, she tried to appraise their costumes. What the heck was the prissy boy?
"So, what, he's stronger than you and he's got better fashion sense?" she asked.
Orli looked up from the pumpkin and waved a slimy hand at the boys. "Are you gonna carve with us, too?" she asked. "Ranza, you have to help me... I'm not gonna scoop the whole thing by myself..."
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Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 3:02 pm
Antony sighed, then lifted both Austin and his pumpkin onto the table. "He's carrying it because he chose to," he said calmly. "And he's not my little brother. In fact I have no idea who he is. He's kidnapped me, I believe."
"Arr!" Austin said cheerfully, waving his sword. "Aye! He's going to show me 'ow to do this."
Antony looked over the plastic tools laid out for carving and picked one, precisely cutting out the stump so they could empty out the pumpkin. "I am Antony, this is--"
"Austin!" Austin supplied.
"And you are?"
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Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 3:08 pm
Ranza dug the scoop into the pumpkin with renewed fervor. "Ranza Cooper, future scourge of the seven seas," she said, grinning wickedly as she plopped a spoonful of pumpkin filling onto the table. "And captain unisuit here's my sister, O---"
"Orli!" interrupted the smaller girl, "And it's a flightsuit. I'm a pilot."
"No you're not."
"Yes I am."
"Stop lying."
"It's halloween! I can be whatever I want! Mom said so," declared Orli, and the argument was won. "What are you dressed up like?" she asked.
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Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 3:12 pm
"I'm a pirate!" Austin said. Somewhere along the line he had gotten ahold of another kid's candy, Polly's to be precise, and he was wired. "Course, I'm always a pirate," he added, frowning. "We came for the beer!"
"I hardly doubt you came for that," Antony said, eyeing the inside of the pumpkin with a hint of distaste. "Well, get to work," he told the kid when nothing happened.
"Huh?" Austin asked.
"Clean the guts out of the pumpkin so I can carve it."
The grin that got was positively evil. "Aye!" Austin cheered, digging in and ripping the "Guts" out of the pumpkin with gusto. It was only fitting for a pirate!
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Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 3:34 pm
Orli picked a piece of pumpkin string out of her hair and leaned across the table. "You're a pirate?" she asked, mind buzzing. "Do you know Polly? She's a pirate, too!"
"Every pirate in the world doesn't know each other," groaned Ranza, continuing to gut the pumpkin even though her sister was distracted. "I've never seen this kid before."
"You're only a pirate for Halloween," shot back Orli. "The rest of the time you just think you're one, like how Nah thinks he's Indy. Polly really is a pirate. She lives on a ship. She told me so."
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Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 4:08 pm
His eyes narrowed. "Polly ain't as good a pirate as me," he said with utter conviction, even though he had only been a pirate for a few weeks, and she'd been a pirate for--for forever. He still beat her hands down!
Antony sighed and dodged as a splat of pumpkin headed right for him, not wanting to get his suit dirty.
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Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 5:37 pm
Orli could keep up with the best of them - she narrowed her eyes right back. "You know Polly," she said. "Is she here?"
Ranza paused, a spoonful of pumpkin guts on her scoop, and watched the prince boy. Wuss, wuss, wuss. The way he flinched and didn't want to get dirty... She would have to do something about that.
She flicked the glob of orange goo at him. It was only a natural reflex.
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Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 5:51 pm
He lifted a hand, blocking it before it got within a foot of him. "There are trashcans for this," he said as he dropped the mess into the can in question and wiped his hand on the table edge to get the last of it off. "How are you doing?" he asked Austin, who was covered with the stuff.
"All done!" Austin said. "Now carve it!"
"And what do you want carved on it?" he asked.
"Pirate stuff!"
Antony picked up the marker and started to draw a skull and crossbones.
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Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 6:14 pm
Well, that was no fun! thought Ranza when the boy blocked her shot. The pumpkin was empty now, so they could start carving it, and she wished the pirate stuff had been her idea. She couldn't steal it now, though.
"What should we put on our pumpkin?" she asked Orli, but Orli was distracted.
"Is Polly here?" she asked Austin. Was he ignoring her?
"Oi, Orli, what's going on our pumpkin?" demanded Ranza.
"A space ship!" quipped Orli, staring Austin down. Ranza picked up a marker and began to draw a clumsy vampire.
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Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 6:27 pm
"I don't care nothin' bout Polly!" Austin snapped, irritated at his ignoring being ignored. "She can go jump offa cliff." And she probably had, a couple of times, but the more time he spent on the same ship as Polly the more he was jealous of her.
Stupid captain's favorite. "I wanna carve," he said to Antony as the teenager grabbed the carving tool.
"Fine," Antony said, twitching slightly. "Here, you carve and I'll help."
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Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 6:31 pm
"But Polly's my friend!" said Orli, beginning to dislike this boy. She sank back onto the bench and looked at Ranza's drawing.
"That's not a space ship," she said.
"It's Dracula."
"I wanted a space ship."
"You can't put a space ship on a pumpkin. It's not scary enough."
This was superior logic. Ranza picked up the carving tool and went to work. Orli, thankfully, did not demand to help - if it wasn't a space ship like she wanted, she wanted no part in it.
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Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 7:08 pm
"Polly's a nose picker," Austin said, now severely disliking this girl. Polly wasn't allowed to have other friends! Not that he was her friend or anything, but--she couldn't have others! He took a second to glare at her as Antony moved his hand to carve the pumpkin.
It was just a good thing that the plastic tools were kid friendly, Antony thought reluctantly, because Austin looked like he would skewer the poor girl.
"An' she MY crewmate!" Austin added, his childish possessiveness getting the better of him. "Not yours!"
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Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 7:17 pm
"You mean you're her brother?" asked Orli, somewhat confused.
"Learn to speak Pirate, dummy," scowled Ranza, pulling a chunk of pumpkin out of her carving. She was sorely tempted to side with Austin - he was, after all, a fellow flaunter of nautical law. "He clearly hasn't got much to do with your friend."
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