How Green Becomes Wood

"Thank you," Daizi smiled, carrying Ivy inside.

"I can see that, thank you." Dark said, sitting back in his seat. Waiting. He didn't begin to eat until after Daizi was back, bringing the baby monitor. Then they enjoyed a nice, peaceful lunch, the leaf pile seemingly forgotten. Near the end, Cooger commented they should about be getting ready for the pumpkin carving, but Daizi pointed out Ivy should be awake for then they gut the pumpkins. As messy as it'd be, she'd love to help with it.

So, while they waited for her to wake up, they hung out in the backyard, milling about. Dark threw a ball to Enkidu, Daizi talked to the boys and Cooger. All the while, even as he entertained his dog, he was waiting. Then, finally there was the moment.

Cooger was chatting with the twins near the leaf pile, his back to Dark and his face towards Lex's house. Running in, uncaring about the leaves he'd curse himself with, Dark threw his arms around Cooger's waist and brought both of them down into the pile of leaves, with the speed and dexterity of a tiger. The only sound Cooger was able to make was the air being knocked from his lungs.
 
The twins noticed Dark running and tensed up, at first thinking something was wrong, and then nearly panicking and jolting backward when he suddenly tackled Cooger into the leaves. They relaxed almost immediately as leaves flew around them, realizing what was going on.

"Oh, come on! How many times is a guy supposed to rake these things!" Xander complained loudly while trying not to laugh.

Alec went ahead and laughed long and loud, bending double. Once he caught his breath, he quite happily started shoving leaves up and over Dark and Cooger to bury them. Xander helped briefly and then grabbed his arm and towed him away before they could get caught up in the wrestling match.
 
Cooger swore and pushed Dark off of himself, ranting about the great indignity of it all. "We're too old for this ****!"

Dark was too proud of himself to even laugh about it, pushing Cooger back when he was shoved as they tried to get out of the leaf pile. Their combined weights had displaced a good amount of them, and neither of them could say the fall hadn't hurt at all, but Dark couldn't claim it wasn't worth it.

"I will rerake it this time," Dark promised, getting up and refusing to help Cooger up. He knew for a fact if he tried to extend that olive branch, he'd just be pulled back into the leaves.

"We're both about to turn 40!" Cooger huffed, throwing up his hands before getting back up on his feet. Then he stole one quick look at Lex's house while Dark got the rake and set about fixing the completely necessary mess he made.
 
Xander was laughing out loud by now watching a pair of fully grown adults wallow about in the leaves and eventually get themselves up to their feet while still shedding leaves with every step. Alec was almost crying with laughter.

Lex was in her kitchen which did not have a great view of Dark and Daizi's back garden, especially with the trees, but she did just so happen to have a straight view of the leaf pile. She stood leaning on her counter as she watched in amusement, sipping on her coffee as she did so.
 
Daizi stood on the porch with her arms on the railing, "Are you winning Goose?"

"Of course," He answered, for a brief moment seeming almost boyish as he knocked the leaves from his hair and off his clothes. She couldn't see him, but it was in his voice and she gripped the porch railing tighter. They just had one more week, then she could paint that adorable man with kisses.

Catching sight of Lex watching them, a faint blush came to Cooger's cheeks and he held up one hand in a wave.

"Now we can carve pumpkins." Dark said resolutely, checking the time, "By the time we have everything set up to protect the porch, Ivy should be awake, although I really do not think we must let her play in pumpkin innards."

"I'll carve you," Cooger grumbled. A toddler covered in pumpkin was his penance.
 
Lex grinned back at Cooger and raised a hand to give him a "Peace" sign. Now this was something she was going to remember for a while!

"Let's stab some gourds!" Alec cheered, still giggling.

Xander helped to spread out some paper and plastic sheeting to catch any of the pumpkin innards, and then set up the pumpkins for stabbing and gutting.
 
As expected, Ivy woke up just before they were ready to carve and Daizi went up to fetch her. Once more, it'd be her job to mind the baby and keep her away from the knives, since otherwise it'd be hard to safely actually break into the gourds.

Upstairs, Daizi changed Ivy's diaper and then switched her clothes to something easy to clean... and something she and Dark weren't emotionally attached to. Just in case.

"On TV they always carve around the stem to get in," Dark told the twins, "but I prefer to cut the bottom instead, because it makes it easier to place the candle inside."
 
"Really? That's interesting!" Alec said, fascinated by the idea. "What if you cut a small hole in the back, instead? Something just big enough for the candle that could be... I don't know, glued shut? Can you glue a pumpkin? You can glue just about anything, can't you?"

Xander was focused on his pumpkin, studying it stem to stern and trying to decide what he wanted to do with it once it had been gutted. This felt like a really important decision!
 
"You could cut it anywhere, but the point of the bottom or the top is it disguises the hole you gut the pumpkin from," Dark said, taking his knife and cutting a circle large enough for his hand about the base, "It also makes it easier to clean."

"My Nana Lucy used to put cinnamon on the inside of the pumpkin near the stem so when we put the candle inside, it smelled just like pumpkin pie," Cooger reminisced, cutting his from the bottom too.
 
"Can you try cutting the side or try putting cinnamon in the pumpkin?" Dark asked, looking up at Alec, "You can try whatever you like, it is your pumpkin."

"Have you carved jack-o-lanterns before?" Cooger asked the twins, not knowing if it was something they'd have found time to do with Tara.
 
"Both!" Alec stated, grinning. He studied the pumpkin and picked a side to be the back. "No, this is our first ever time. Is it as slimy as it looks inside."

"Wait! I'll cut it for you," Xander said as Alec picked up a knife.
 
"You can do both," Dark answered, not going to micromanage his pumpkin experience. It wasn't that deep, let him experiment.

"Nah, it's not as slimey as it looks," Cooger answered, rolling up his sleeve above his elbow and sticking his arm straight inside before pulling out a gloop of it and dropping it in the metal bowl Daizi had prepared to collect the insides, "It's worse."

Rolling his eyes, Dark removed the bottom of his pumpkin, "Cutting it here also removes most of the insides with it."
 
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Xander cut the pumpkin where Alec wanted, at the back of his pumpkin, and left him to it while he sliced off the bottom of his pumpkin. He grimaced, wincing at the feel of the slime as he dug his hands in, but he didn't complain. Alec voiced the exact thoughts running through his head, so he didn't have to.

"Ew! This is so gross!" Alec moaned as he tentatively dug his hand into the pumpkin innards. "Ew, ew, EW! It's not just the fact that it's slimy, that's bad enough, no, it's that it's slimy and stringy! And it's got little nobbles inside! Why do people do this for fun?"
 
"The part at the end where you actually carve it makes it worthwhile," Dark answered, rolling up his sleeves before picking up an ice cream scoop to get the insides out, "I prefer using a tool."

"Using a tool is cheating," Cooger replied.
 
Alec pulled out a wad and looked at it in disgust. "It feels how a jellyfish looks." He tugged on it and found most of the strings still attached. "How do you actually get it clean without a tool?"

Xander had picked up a big spoon and was attacking the pumpkin with vigor. This was surprisingly hard work! But satisfying as he scraped the inside smooth.
 
Alec heaved a sigh. "This is what they mean when they say you have to suffer for your art." He winced and grumbled his way through his pumpkin but finally got it all cleaned out through the rather inefficient hole in the back of his pumpkin.

Xander had gotten his cleaned out relatively quickly and stacked all the guts in the bowl. There were a lot of plump looking seeds in his pumpkin, and he hoped that meant they got to try roasted pumpkin seeds. He had his pumpkin sitting up and was carefully designing what he hoped would be a cool but simple carve.
 
"Why did you want to put the whole in the back?" Dark asked, finishing gutting his own pumpkin before opening Ivy's and, with a heavy sigh, calling her over so she could 'help.'

"Might be hard to get the candle in there," Cooger commented.
 
"I have a plan! And I think it'll work," Alec said with a confidence he did not fully feel as he made certain the inside bottom of his pumpkin was scraped flat.

"How does this look?" Xander asked Dark uncertainly, turning the pumpkin so he could see the outline he'd drawn on. It was the Uffington White Horse. "Not exactly spooky, but I thought maybe it could look cool?"
 
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