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Damian hadn't won, but he was okay with that! He could just keep trying. He was determined to eventually win something. So he came back the next day with some smuggled pumpkin carving tools and got to work on a big pumpkin.

It didn't take him long before he had something worth showing. This time he just hoped it won. If not he'd be back the next day with a new idea.

It didn’t take long after Azzo spotted the pumpkin decorating contest that he just knew he had to enter. He stood there looking at pumpkins and observing each and everyone one of them until he paused at the most unsightly one of the bunch. “Poor fellow’s never going to be picked.” He said, grams was standing beside him as she watched him talk about the pumpkin.

“I don’t even think it’s a pumpkin dear.” She said looking at him, however he seemed to have already made up his mind.

Azzo picked up the large monstrosity of a pumpkin and carried it over to a table; he was dressed in Victorian clothing so he was doing his best not to wrinkle his shirt. He was trying to be a vampire, something simple for today anyways; since he didn’t want to wear his other costume.

When he sat down the pumpkin on the table he started looking at it curiously before grabbing a brush and brown paint. “It’d be nice if they actually had a gallon of paint. I bet this thing is going to take a few layers.”

Grams watched him work her brow lofted, she didn’t even know the boy COULD paint. Azzo had paused and looked at Grams noticing the weird look on her face, “What? It doesn’t take THAT much skill to paint a pumpkin. Plus the way it’s deformed I can follow the lines.” He grinned as he worked, Grams meanwhile just sighed. It took him a while and a bunch of coats of paint to get the pumpkin looking brown like he wanted it. He’d taken up another color, white, and started working on where eyes would probably be. This pumpkin would be at least awesome looking; even if it didn’t win he could take it home and sit it on a table or something awesome. Azzo had hardly ever painted a pumpkin much less craved a smiley face on one, whatever prompted the boy to actually do something like this was beyond anyone’s comprehension.

“Did you see what the prize was?” He asked grams and made a motion to the rules behind him, the gift card seemed to have gotten his interest. It took him several more coats of this color and that to get the pumpkin close to what he was looking for. However, something was missing, Azzo frowned as he stepped back to look at his work.

“I think you’re missing antlers.” Grams said softly.

Azzo stopped and seemed to think for a moment as he tilted his head to look at the pumpkin another way. “You know… I think your right.” Giving a nod he made sure the pumpkin was dry, it’d probably be his luck that it’d take a while for it to dry properly. He didn’t want his gloves getting brown on them; it’d be hell to wash out. So he waited around a bit looking to see what other pumpkins there were on display. When he returned he asked Grams for his white gloves, he had grabbed some pipe cleaners earlier from another table after asking permission to borrow some; having a feeling someone else might’ve owned those.

When they got back he glued the pipe cleaners and adjusted how they stood before taking his gloves from grams and placing the gloves on the pipe cleaners. Lucky him he’d grabbed enough to double the main pipe cleaner so it’d be sturdy enough to hold the weight.

“What do you think? Is it prize winning?” Azzo asked looking at Grams with his head tilted.

“Who knows Azzo.” She replied with a shake of her head. She seemed not to approve of such conduct.

Azzo cuckled and took the pumpkin up to where it’d be judged and left it there giving Howl a wave he and grams went to explore the rest of the carnival.

((644 word count))

It was tough, Eve thought, facing up against so many people. But she was already effectively pulled into this contest, and was determined to win. Or at least have fun in the process! Grinning, she set to work. If this pumpkin didn't win, she was taking it when no one was looking and sneaking it back home.

Alairi was bored. So far, the carnival had been all right, the games had been cute, but nothing had really stood out to her. Of course, she reasoned to herself, it was hard to really get excited about games when she was trying to get over a cold and balance her time to accomadate both her lives. Still.

Walking slowly, she glanced again at the pumpkin carving and this time, decided to stop and give it a try. Brushing a strand of hair from her eyes, the slight girl adjusted her Twi'lek costume and found an empty seat. Reaching for a nicely rounded pumpkin, she began to carve. Stuck for a moment on what, exactly to carve, she finally decided to take her inspiration from the same source her costume had come from. Giggling softly and humming the Imperial March under her breath, the girl worked on her pumpkin. And once it was done, she sat back with a look of extreme satisfaction on her face.

It was a bit sad, but he didn't see some of the familiar faces he had grown accustomed to seeing. Where had that little girl gone to? Certainly, her works weren't to the same level as some of the other entrants, but they were absolutely charming in their own way.

Howl sighed, but nodded his head when his mother arrived. Several participants had tried various new angles of decorating the pumpkins. He was rather fond of the leaf decorated one, but there were several others that also had plenty of appeal.

His mother glanced upon the various displayed pumpkins, and eventually touched the edge of the carriage. "Call me cliche, but I like the Cinderella tie in."

Howl had personally been more of a fan of the girl's flower pumpkins, but he was not going to argue. A win was a win.

Tallulah Cowden was back at the pumpkin carving table, trying to satisfy what was rapidly becoming a fanatical need to win. So pumpkin Atlas hadn't satisfied them? She could do better. She could do so much better, just wait, even if it took her all day, she would make The Best Pumpkin Ever.

And considering there was already a Death Star on the entries table for today, she had some stiff competition. It was time to get fancy and complicated.

A few hours later, she plunked her finished pumpkin down on the entries table. "How do you like me now?" she demanded.

Among the more upset contest-goers, there was one young man who didn't see to be bothered at all with his string of lost pumpkins. Xavier didn't look bothered, or even deterred by the fact that his pumpkins were looked over day after day. He hummed to himself as he took his pumpkin and started to trace along an outline with pencil. It was time to stick a little closer to the theme at hand... He hogged the black paint fro a good 30 minutes before he was finally done.

Another day another pumpkin. Damian was feeling a little discouraged after his second loss but he was nothing if not persistent. With a new idea in his head he returned to the booth, picked out what would hopefully be the perfect pumpkin and started to carve.

This one took him a little longer than the previous days, but he had gone online and looked up stencils and designs and tried to memorize one so he'd have something nice. He wasn't sure if he had done it completely right, but it looked nice enough to him. When he finished he set it next to the other pumpkins, proud of his work.