Starnies Prompties

"Iuno! We should make something!" Pia skipped alongside her wishmaker, practically bouncing at the idea. A single red-orange leaf was clutched in her hand as Iuno glanced over at her. Iuno looked at the leaf, then to the unrestrained bundle of autumnal glee. 

"Oh? What do you suggest? We could decorate our house like that one we saw..." At Pia's grimace, Iuno quickly back pedaled. "Ok joking, I'm joking! Really though, what did you have in mind? Jack-o- lanterns,  leaf somethings, something else?" 

She watched Pia out of the corner of her eye as the girl pondered. Pia seemed to be thinking so hard that Iuno swore smoke would start billowing from her ears. "Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...."

It took a while - Iuno gave her time to think. Eventually her patience was rewarded with a cheerful "What's a jack-o-lantern? Is it scary?"

Iuno took some time to reassure her that it wasn't scary to make a jack-o-lantern, though you could carve some pretty creepy things into one if you wanted, but she also warned Pia that there was some danger to be careful of. "Nothing serious, just...they're kinda tough to cut, so you have to go slow and be careful of your fingers. Or if you're pushing pointy things into them, like tacks or needles, you need to be cautious of those too. Of you could glue things to them, but if you use hot glue...you get the idea, right?" 

Pia nodded energetically. "It sounds fun, though! Can you paint them too?" At Iuno's confirmation, she was practically giddy. "Let's make those then!"

They didn't spend too long picking out pumpkins - two big, round orange ones - and Iuno took it upon herself to cut the cap of Pia's pumpkin off for her after the tantalising tease of a glowing pumpkin containing a candle. Guts were removed and dumped into a large bowl (pumpkin seeds were always great baked!), tools were laid out, and the girls set to work.

Iuno carved a mischievous face, with a huge grin filled with spiky teeth and fangs and toonish villain eyes. It was a bit lopsided and jagged - pumpkins were hard! - but overall she was pleased with how it looked by the end. 

She had kept an ear open for Pia the whole time, but Pia never had any issues.  "Wow - you're awfully good at this for someone who's never made one before!" 

Pia had carved in a cat face, but instead of cutting straight through the pumpkin flesh she'd focused on chipping it away little by little. The end result had softer, somewhat uneven border lines but was remarkably symmetrical. She had used toothpicks to reattach eye shapes inside the cat's head. Around the cat she had painted a bunch of little things - mostly fall leaves, though Iuno spied a few fish bones in there too.

"Ah, I think yours is now autumn-y than mine. I went Halloween." Pia looked over and giggled.

"That could certainly give someone a fright if you stuck it in a tree! ...wait, no- Iuno don't go getting ideas! Don't stick it in a tree!"

Iuno just grinned.