[BROWTOBER] Pumpkin Patch

Basil trots through the brisk autumn weather at a quick clip, following after his daughter and listening to her talk. He hasn’t been in New Centuary for quite some time now, being that the ride over is surprisingly long, and then he has to get in line for a waygate, and it’s just a whole to-do. Raven’s Eye is just too out of the way. Usually they meet up at events for family get-togethers nowadays, from the games in Harara to the mysteries of the Starwell in Sor Solir. 

But Marie asked him to come, said she missed celebrating the spooky season with him and wanted him to see how they did it at her apartment, and Basil couldn’t say no. He didn’t want to say no! He’s not an empty nester, okay. He just misses having her around. 

“We need at least four. I don’t know if Vee’s actually going to want to carve one because she’s kind of particular about her fur but I guess I shouldn’t assume? Let me text her!” Marie slows to a halt as she pulls out her phone, tapping away, and then turns to smile brightly at him. “But at least four, and I think it would be smarter to get five in case there’s an accident with one of them!” 

“Yeah? And where are we gonna put all these pumpkins, kiddo?” 

“The window sill, obviously! Or the front stoop, the neighbors won’t mind. They might even join in? They were a lot of fun last year!” Marie laughs at some fond memory, and the sound of it makes Basil grin. 

“Your neighbors… Were they the ones playing sad break-up music at top volume for a month straight?”

“Yeah! Poor guys. They’re always fun to talk to though--oh, look! We’re here!” Marie points at the sign for the pumpkin patch, a huge wooden monstrosity painted colorfully with a ton of jack o’ lanterns. Most of the pumpkins displayed near the sign come up to at least Marie’s hip and sit in an array of greens, oranges, yellows, and whites, proudly boasting their growing power. “Do you think we can buy one of these?”

“We don’t have a way to get it back to your apartment,” Basil laughs. “But if you wanna shell out the stargold, we could figure it out.”

The giant pumpkins end up not being for sale, as they quickly find out. The proprietor of the establishment mentions that they’re going to a harvest festival and getting entered into some competition, but happily shows them the way to the carving patch, where a good handful of other people are also picking out pumpkins for the season.  There’s even old rusty wheelbarrows to gather them up. Basil steers one through the mud as Marie dashes to and fro, looking for the perfect pumpkins for all of them. 

Marie hefts a yellow-orange gourd the size of her head over her horns, grinning broadly. “What about this one for you?”

Basil, who’s not feeling too picky at the moment, smiles back and gestures at the wheelbarrow. “Slam dunk that sucker in here.”

“No! That would break it!”

Instead, she places it carefully, though her tail is lashing with excitement.