An Addams Celebration, Cinq
Posted on Thu 14th Jan, 2021 @ 2:12am by Elizabeth Anderson M.D. & Commander Paul Graves PsyD & Lieutenant Commander Lanis Dhuro MD & Lieutenant Damion Ildaran & Purulence Addams
Edited on on Thu 14th Jan, 2021 @ 2:15am
1,796 words; about a 9 minute read
Mission:
Denouement
Location: House of Addams, Queen Anne Villas, Tivoli Gardens
Timeline: All Hallow's Eve
The three Addams sisters stood across the front porch, Ischemia on the right and Purulence on the left, leaving the middle for Chlamydia. It made an attractive grouping. Ischemia rang a bell to draw everyone's attention. Her bright red gown flowed down her slim figure and trailed behind her, and the bell was held by her long bright red fingernails, polished to a fierce shine.
"Hear ye, hear ye, one and all," she intoned. "The time has come for ...." She stopped and looked around at all of them, lowering her voice and imbuing it with a sinister creepiness. As party goers quieted and turned toward the front steps, she repeated the first of the sentence.
"The time has come for the Sacrifice of the Pumpkins! You will note the tables loaded with victims awaiting your knives. There can be no painting, only full sacrificial pumpkin destruction!" Her voice rose slightly. "Make your way to a table and begin immediately. Time is limited ... especially for the pumpkins!"
As people stirred, she added, "At the end of each table is a container for the pumpkin brains. Please deposit all of yours there. The brains will be washed, seasoned and toasted for those needing sustenance later." In fact, they were already contracted to a company for that very purpose, since toasted pumpkin seeds were popular in many flavors, and quite nutritious.
"And when you are done carving your masterpieces, we want to take pictures!" Purulence called out. She was dressed as a Drow elf. "Then you are welcome to take your pumpkins home after the party to decorate your own quarters. Please take them home!"
Reon looked over the groups standing in the somewhat run-down yard, searching for Kya. Finally spying her, he hurried over and said, "So do your talents run to carving pumpkin shells?"
The familiar voice was welcome, and Kya thought the face was just as welcome. Her wallflower tendencies were on full display as she nervously made small talk trying to feel comfortable.
"I think my skills translate well enough. Our family motto is "Sharp knives hurt less." Kya laughed hoping he would find it funny. "Are you competing?"
"I could be convinced," he smiled down at her. "I don't often cut myself, so I'm probably a safe-enough partner."
Kya blushed as he said partner. He was handsome, and the days had gotten long since her husband passed. Being a few drinks deep loosened the tight reserve so she let herself relax. She observed the others for a second, "Yes, partners. You'll have to tell me what to draw? I think its drawing yes? I can zest and carve, but my imagination never was too spectacular."
Reon found himself charmed by the half shy woman beside him, and set out to make sure she had a good time. "I'm not at all sure what we're doing," he laughed, looking around. "It seems some people are drawing, but then cutting what they draw. I'm definitely no artist," he looked back at her, "so why don't you draw something that seems a bit spooky to you, or funny, maybe? And I'll do my best to cut it out. Or, if you really want to live dangerously," he grinned, "I'll draw and you can cut."
Kya blinked at the word, her UT made the word "spooky" into Bajoran as "Fun-Death." She laughed a little, understanding well enough. Though there was still no clear indicator of how to make death fun. "Scary" worked, and children were here, so spooky must mean something on theme but not adult oriented. An idea came to her, and she made a light sketch of a Starfleet Delta.
"Cut out the Triangle, leaving the pointed negative space for the division insignia, Score the border, put a candle inside. We make candlelit gourds on Bajor for harvest times as well, but this "spokky" decoration is something else! You like that?"
reference: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/46/4d/83/464d83d3bb4ecc3146bf855ece47616f.jpg
"So the idea is to carve a face into a squash?" Damion asked as he gave their pumpkin a dubious look. "How did that ever get started? I like the idea of putting a candle in it; that makes it useful. But still--a squash? I think I'd want to draw that on the rind, first."
Elizabeth shrugged, "Hang on a second while I run some files. I'm a novice at this myself." After a moment, she answered him. "It appears that there are drawers and free-handers, so if you can find something that draws, I guess you can."
Jaryl looked around and took up a pumpkin to examine it. "Are there rules for this endeavor?" His silvery eyes gleamed in amusement at the idea of digging into a squash with a knife just for fun.
Wandering through the guests, Ischemia overheard Jaryl. "No, no rules really, except the one about carving. Some charlatans," she shuddered delicately, "think it's alright to paint the faces on, but the spirits know that's sacrilege." She sounded so serious that those who overheard her weren't sure if she actually believed there were spirits involved in an actual sacrifice here in the front yard. She snapped her fingers and a marking pen magically appeared. She handed it to Damion with a smile and walked on.
"Thanks," Damion said to Ischemia as she passed him and Elizabeth. He gave Elizabeth a sidelong glance. "I ... guess this doesn't count as paint?"
"Hmmm," Elizabeth said, looking around at others. "I think it's for drawing what you plan to cut? I wouldn't use it to draw a face I didn't cut. You heard her warning!"
Adam and Jasmine stood staring at the large white pumpkin in front of them on the table. It was more oblong than round, a good sized pumpkin with the perfect shape for carving. "Now, all we have to do is decide what to carve." Jasmine said as she leaned back examining her 'victim'.
"This is all you, sweetheart. We never carved pumpkins when I was growing up." He laughed. "Or sacrificed them." Adam had heard about this tradition on Earth years ago from his parents, but this was the first time he'd ever been asked to participate. Wyatt had done it before with Maia, but he'd never been involved.
"Well, we want something somewhat scary and non-traditional." She smiled "It's an Addams' family party, after all." She could almost hear Ischemia tsking them for a Casper style ghost or what would pass for a werewolf to a Terran child. "I know what we're NOT doing." She added. "We are not doing a zombie." Her comment made Adam laugh.
"Well, I can do a pretty good dragon flying across the moon." Adam said. "Not sure how it will work on a pumpkin, but.."
"A dragon it is." Jasmine patted his shoulder and handed him the marker to sketch out what he would cut.
Adam took the marker and started sketching. After a few minutes, he'd drawn a dragon in flight with a large full moon behind it. "So how do you make the picture into the carving?" Adam asked.
"What you want to stand out dark, you leave in place. You cut away what you want lit up. You can shave down to make the pumpkin glow as well, by making the meat of the pumpkin thinner." Jasmine explained as Adam began to carve.
"So the moon is carved through and the dragon stays in place?" Adam asked to be sure.
"Yes." Jasmine was grinning as she moved the seeds and 'guts' of the pumpkin to the bins at the end of the table while Adam worked his magic with the knives and carving tools. Before long, there was a carving that resembled a dragon and a moon. Adam even sliced away at the dragon to give the illusion of glowing scales along the body.
Jaryl had taken up a pencil and was sketching onto his pumpkin, and had secured another smaller pumpkin as well. He had an idea in his head that would require two pumpkins.
"All right, I'm dying to see what you're up to," Damion said to Jaryl, stalling while he tried to think of a face to carve into his and Elizabeth's pumpkin. Then an idea hit him. "Elizabeth, let's do something a mite unusual. if you can imagine that dragon brooch design and sketch it on this pumpkin, I think I can carve it."
She took the pen from him, still watching the man with two pumpkins. "Um, I think I can do that, but the cutting is all on you!"
As he looked at the pumpkin in front of him and Serena, Andrew tried to think back to what his sister would want to carve while growing up but drew a blank. Shrugging at Serena, "I was more of the carver growing up than the brains behind the design," adding while grinning, "Just tell me what you're thinking and I can slice this thing up."
"Well, my family was very old school. Just a ferocious-looking face ... uneven teeth, frowny eyebrows, and my job was always to carve the nose, a crooked triangle. So if you want to go traditional, then have at it!"
Jaryl offered a lopsided smile over at Damion, before continuing to rough out a skull on the surface of the smaller pumpkin. It was one of the decorated sugar skull variants, and he was using the small carving knife to etch away the pumpkin skin. The bigger pumpkin he cut the front off of it entirely, in a pattern that looked like a surgical removal and scooped the guts out the front.
Experiment Number Six Addams picked up the bowl of pumpkin "guts" she'd carefully preserved, and spilled about half coming from a ragged hole torn in the back of her gourd, before turning and splattering the rest across the tree behind her. She walked around the table to contemplate her creation, and nodded at the stylized surprised face it wore, and the extra, small hole between its eyes. She rubbed her hands together and practiced her Evil Cackle.
Once Elizabeth sketched the dragon brooch design, Damion started cutting into it. "I'm glad you drew that and not me," he said to Elizabeth as he deftly worked the knife against the pumpkin rind. It was a different kind of vegetable cutting than he was used to--more surgical than a knife and a chopping board, but he eventually carved out the design and went to work on hollowing out the pumpkin. "Experiment Number Six, would you like some more innards to add to your work of art?"
Absently, Six replied, "No, thanks. I believe there's just the right amount of brain matter here."
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