Private Finished Pumpkins and Past Times

Maisie Belle kicked her dormroom door open. "I'm back!" she called into the dorm. She was carrying a heavy load of round and shapely pumpkins in her arms; for any other girl, it might've been particularly heavy and almost impossible to hold, but Maisie had built plenty of muscle from her childhood spent on the farm. She pushed her way inside, kicked the door closed behind her, and went to find a suitable place on the floor by the kitchen to dump her pumpkins.

"Ash? You here?" Her grey-blue eyes scanned the dormroom in search of her grumpy vampire roommate who was quite short. Taller than her, of course, but that didn't stop her from making fun of him from time to time. It was fun teasing him; he had such interesting reactions that she didn't usually pull from other people--the common reaction was to look at her like she was loopy and go, 'What?' But Ash didn't do that; he teased her right back. It reminded her of home, and she appreciated that.

It was the end of winter, nearly spring; these pumpkins were an absolute mystery. Maisie stood with her hands on her hips and appraised the massive orange gourds.

"I got them from this weird stall right outside of town! Can you believe it? Fresh pumpkins just days away from spring," she said proudly, a grin on her face. She went to the bathroom and grabbed a towel from one of the cabinets, then brought it back and spread it out over the floor. "Roommate bonding time! We're gonna carve pumpkins together, you and I, and we're gonna make this place look more like a harvest festival than a harvest festival."

Maisie wiggled away at his poke and laughed, waving away his finger. "Sure, I can make a pie; you like pumpkin facials? You're gonna get a pumpkin pie right to the face, complete with whipped cream, shortcake."

She rolled two pumpkins onto the towel and jogged over to the kitchen to grab some knives to carve with. When she returned, she held one of the knives handle-first to Ash. "Hope you have a design in mind! And some free-time. You weren't busy, were you? Because you're not anymore! Well, you are busy. With pumpkin carving. And if you say no, then I'll stick one of these pumpkins on your head, and you'll be one of them headless horsemen, just without the horse."

"See, this stall stocks fruits and vegetables that are out of season--in fact, I think that's its name, 'Out of Season'. Isn't that cool? Oranges and bananas in the winter, pumpkins in the spring," she rambled on as she plopped down onto the towel with her knife in hand.

She went to cut into the top of her pumpkin when Ash unsheathed his claws, and she paused with the knife in the air to stare at him. "I don't know if I should feel scared or a little turned on. You're really going to cut your pumpkin with those?" She shook her head, snorted, and laughed, then reached to take the knife that he'd opted not to use. Now with a knife in both hands, she went to stab the top of her pumpkin on opposite sides and at slight inward angles.

"Really, that long? That's a mighty shame--why not? We carve pumpkins every year on the farm, y'know. It's a giant mess, and then we have about twenty-five pies taking up the whole kitchen! We can a lot of what we get though so we can sell it over in town. Some people will pay top dollar for some quality pumpkin puree. You think we can make a buck here too?" Maisie pried the top of her pumpkin off and peeked inside at all those yummy seeds and guts. Grinning, she glanced up at her roommate. "So! Bonding time. What's your story, shortcake?"

Maisie grinned; she'd finally been able to draw a reaction from him--he'd complimented her looks, and this time it wasn't while she was exhausted and looked like a hot mess that just rolled out of the haystacks. "Sure, they're...eccentric. You ain't seeing any claws or fangs on the boys back home, not unless they're two feet tall, furry, and named Bandit. But I gotta say, I'm a little disappointed; are my looks and accent the only things that make me 'not bad?'" She laughed, shaking her head. On the other hand, she hadn't really had much contact with boys beyond flirtations--she'd only turned sixteen but a month before.

She set the top of her pumpkin down on the towel and glanced over at Ash's progress. Seeing the claw marks in his pumpkin but definitely not where they were supposed to be, nor was it emptied, she snorted and pointed and said loudly, "Bit rusty, Shortcake! You forget that pumpkins have guts? You know you gotta pop that top off if you wanna get inside before you even think of carving!"

Maisie pushed her sleeve up and went to reach straight inside of the pumpkin. She glanced up at Ash as her hand squeezed and squished around the pumpkin guts. "Everyone's got a story, but I get it; your story must be mighty uncomfortable if you don't want to say. Well, don't worry; I won't pester you. You can tell me on your own time."

Maisie huffed and mock pouted at him. "Fine then! I'm turning myself back off, here we go--" She flicked her finger down on her nose and stuck her tongue out between her teeth. "There. Now your wicked fangs and claws don't turn me on anymore. What're you gonna do about it?"

She sputtered slightly when the pumpkin seed bounced off her chin. "Rude!" she huffed, drawing her hand out of the pumpkin to throw a small handful of slimy pumpkin guts and seeds at him. "That'll teach you, Shortcake, flicking things at me. I'll get you back if you do something like that." After wiping her hand off on the towel, she stuck it right back in the pumpkin to keep scooping.

"Me? I'm from a farm, yup--born and raised on it. It's situated in Oklahoma, country-side. That farm's been there for generations on the west side of a brook, opposite of our generations-long rivals. And I do, yes--a huge family. We got family members spread out all across the country--family in Canada and England, too. At least, that's where the other major farms are. There are others out in the world, but they ain't got big farms like we do. Some of them are traitors and become smart people, like doctors and lawyers. Can you believe the gall?"