"Are you and Sam going to be all gross and couple-y the whole time?" Sebastian asked Maru. They were walking down from the mountain for Abigail's pumpkin-carving birthday extravaganza.

"Oh, shut up," Maru said. "You'll understand when you start dating. If you ever do, that is."

Sebastian sighed. "And how long have you been dating? Five minutes? That hardly makes you an expert, Mar."

"Eighteen days," she said matter-of-factly. "And that's eighteen days more experience than you have, so between the two of us, I'm kind of the expert."

"Right." Sebastian shook his head. "So how was dinner with his family?"

"Actually, it was surprisingly fun," Maru said. "I was nervous, but it went as well as could be expected."

Sebastian was glad to hear it, but he couldn't resist saying, "So Jodi only looked down on you a little bit then?"

"Hey, speak for yourself. Jodi likes me."

Sebastian laughed. "Why am I not surprised? You're like a professional parent-pleaser."

Maru rolled her eyes. "You're right, maybe I should get a tattoo and sulk in my room some more. Then maybe all the parents of the world will see me for the rebel I truly am."

"I do not sulk."

"Sure, sure." Maru let the obvious sarcasm drip off her words.

"I have a job!"

"Yeah, Likely story."

Sebastian had to laugh. Were all younger siblings like this, or just the freaky genius ones with inflated egos?

"Ooh, there's Sam!" Maru skipped down the rest of the hill and nearly barrelled into her boyfriend. He picked her up and spun her. Sam dating his sister...hadn't become any less weird. Sebastian didn't bother catching up; he let them have their moment in front of the General Store and followed in at a distance.

"They're all in the kitchen," Pierre said when he came in, barely looking up from the account books.

"Thanks."

Abigail's house wasn't a frequent hangout spot, but Sebastian always thought it was cool. How random was it to have a shrine inside your house? And they never needed to go out for groceries.

Everyone was gathered around the kitchen table, which was covered in newspaper, pumpkins, and an assortment of tools that looked better suited for a slasher film than a birthday party. Sam and Maru had scooted their chairs together and were sitting uncomfortably close. And to think, there was an altar of Yoba right in the next room!

Sebastian worried Penny might be upset by their display, but she didn't seem particularly bothered by it. She looked shy and a bit on edge, but that was par for the course at any kind of group event. She flashed him a smile when he came in, and his heart almost stopped in his chest, suddenly reminded of their last meeting.

Penny's shirt was more orange-y than normal, she generally preferred yellow, and in combination with her orange hair, she looked like an adorable, loveable, little pumpkin.

Sebastian couldn't believe he was even thinking such a thing. What had happened to him? Was 'cute pumpkin girl' his type all along?

But the most interesting scene playing out in the room (to anyone but Sebastian; he was pretty focused on Penny) was Elliott doting on Abigail.

"I'm fine, Elliott," she insisted, for the second or third time, though she couldn't hide her grin every time he brought her things or moved something closer to where she could reach it.

"Very well, very well," he said as he finally sat down. "Let me just—" He got up again and adjusted her wheelchair so she was closer to the table.

Elliott hovered like an anxious hummingbird, if that hummingbird looked like a man on the cover of a romance novel. And who wears an ascot to carve pumpkins?

The only open seat was next to Penny, so Sebastian took it, but took care not to sit too close. He had to remind himself that he had technically been turned down. They were still just friends, so he definitely shouldn't hold her hand under the table.

"Don't be shy," Abigail said when everyone was settled. "Let's gut some pumpkins."

Sebastian took a kitchen knife and cut a rough circle in the top of his pumpkin. He pulled it out the lid and started scooping the stringy pumpkin innards. Meanwhile, Penny was meticulously sketching a perfect zig-zag around the top of hers. Then she carefully cut it out with one of those teeny saws.

Elliott had barely touched his own pumpkin; instead he was stabilizing Abigail's so it wouldn't slip while she was working on it. And on Sebastian's other side, Maru and Sam were playfully flicking pumpkin bits at eachother. Great.

Sebastian finished scraping the inside pretty quickly and started coming up with something to carve. A frog, maybe?

"What are you going to carve, Penny?" he asked.

Penny had only just started her scooping. "I'm not sure yet."

"I think I shall carve a spider," Elliott said cheerily.

"Ooh, me too!" Abigail said. "Should we make it a little competition?"

"Very well, what does the winner receive?" Elliott asked.

"The winner...gets to toss the loser's pumpkin off the roof," Abigail said eagerly.

"Abby, you won't be scaling any roofs for a good while," Sebastian said, nodding at her leg. "I guess you'll have to forfeit."

"I could make a catapult," Maru offered with a shrug. "We've got a ton of wood and stuff."

"Niiiice," said Sam.

"Catapult it is!" Abigail said. "It's on, Elliott. Consider yourself warned." Abigail worked on her pumpkin intensely, and Elliott finally turned to work on his own.

Sebastian tried to peek around at Penny's, but she blocked his view sheepishly.

"Ugh, this isn't working!" Maru tossed aside her little saw. "It was supposed to be a ghost." She turned it around for everyone to see. The ghost shape had completely fallen in, leaving an amorphous blob-shaped hole.

"It could be a slime," Abigail said generously.

"No, I've got a better idea." Maru picked up the biggest knife on the table. Then she began chopping up the entire pumpkin into chunks. "Do you have any toothpicks, Abigail?"

Abigail pointed them out, and Maru started assembling the pumpkin chunks. "I'll take anyone's extra cutouts," she said.

They all concentrated on their pumpkins for a while, falling into a comfortable silence while listening to some Ghost Synth on the radio.

"Is everyone finished?" Abigail asked.

Everyone said they were. Penny made one last finishing touch and set down her saw.

"Then let the demonstration of the masterpieces commence!" Abigail said.

"I'll go first!" said Maru. By this point, they all had a pretty good idea of what it was. "I call him Captain Squash, the Cy-Gourd." She turned around her pumpkin-robot monstrosity so they could all see the front. In one of his hands he was holding a fistfull of pumpkin guts, like he had just brutally murdered another pumpkin.

"Wow..." Penny breathed.

"That's ridiculously cool," Abigail said.

"Isn't it awesome?" Sam beamed with pride as if he had somehow been involved in its creation.

Sebastian had to admit it was pretty freaking cool. At least until its limbs started falling off.

"I can't compete with that, but I think you'll all appreciate mine on a conceptual level." Sam turned around his pumpkin. Carved into the pumpkin...was an image of a pumpkin.

"It's ironic!" Sam said proudly. "Right?" He looked around for affirmation. Only Elliott and Penny laughed.

"Sam..." Abigail shook her head. "That has to be the stupidest pumpkin I've ever seen. I love it."

"She gets it." Sam pointed at Abigail. "That's what I'm talking about."

Sebastian shook his head and turned his own pumpkin around. "It's a frog. But then the hand fell off so I gave him a laser sword."

Elliott cocked his head to the side. Maru leaned closer and squinted.

"Sebby, that has to be the worst pumpkin carving I've ever seen." Abigail sounded genuinely disappointed in him.

"Why is he holding the sword with his tail?" asked Sam.

"Frogs don't have tails," corrected Maru.

Elliott added, of no use to anyone, "Tadpoles have tails."

"That's not his tail, that's his arm," Penny finally chimed in. "See there's his other arm, and his back legs are here, and these are his eyes."

That earned a collective "Ohhh," and everyone stopped to examine his frog again. It wasn't that bad.

"I guess I'm next," said Penny, still shielding her pumpkin from view. "It's not very creative." She turned it around, and it was the most perfect, and yet most ordinary jack-o-lantern anyone had ever seen. It had classic triangle eyes, a little triangle nose, and a toothy grin. Penny was half hiding behind it, seemingly embarrassed at making such a normal pumpkin when everyone else's were so unconventional.

"Marvelous!" Elliott said. "One can never go wrong with a classic."

This seemed to make Penny more disappointed with her pumpkin, not less. Sebastian wanted to compliment it, because it was really quite well done, but anything he said would probably have the same effect.

It was Abigail's remark that made a difference. "Penny, would you mind if I cut out the bottom of your pumpkin and wore it on my head as a helmet? You could still put a candle in it later."

"Uh, sure?" Penny laughed.

"Nice. I'm gonna scare the crap out of some kids this year."

Penny smiled to herself as she turned her pumpkin back around.

"Is it time for the spider-off?" Elliott asked.

Abigail nodded. "Let's go at the same time. 3...2...1..."

They each turned their spider carvings around. Abigail's caught the attention of the group first, resulting in some audible 'wow's and 'ooh's. It was a remarkably realistic and horrifying spider, complete with gnarly fangs and a decapitated fly. Sebastian couldn't even figure out how she'd gotten all the pieces not to fall out of the pumpkin; it was some kind of artistic sorcery.

Then there was Elliott's pumpkin. It was basically a circle with a face, and some lines coming out of it. To be generous, you could tell that it was a spider.

"Abs, I think you win this one. No question." Sam said. Everyone nodded in agreement, including Elliott.

Abigail was the only one to protest. "What are you talking about? Look how cute Elliot's is, it's got a cute little smile. It's got so much character!"

"It's also got two missing legs," said Sebastian. "Spiders have eight legs."

"Maybe it's a daddy long legs?" Maru suggested. "While technically not a spider, it's considered a spider often enough in colloquial speech that it's not exactly wrong..."

Elliott laughed. "That's very kind of you, Maru, but I can assure you I had no thought of its being a daddy long legs. I accept my loss graciously."

"Regardless, it's gonna make some excellent catapult fodder," Maru said.

"Nooo we can't launch it now," Abigail protested. "I've gotten attached."

Sebastian gave an over-the-top sigh. "Fine, you can launch mine." He slid his poor frog across the table. "Happy birthday."