( done for the October cdc prompt of "pumpkin" !! )

The day of Halloween was rapidly approaching, as was the all important battle against the Pitt as well. As a result of this, Worm could very clearly feel the tensions in the group rising considerably with each passing day. He had decided that he was going to offset this by helping to decorate the place up a bit for the season. So, he had gone searching around the territory and the surrounding area for as many pumpkins as he could possibly find, and had then taken a small wagon full of them back to the main camp area, pulling the entire cart over to where his house was sitting, small and undisturbed. He then began to pull the pumpkins out carefully by the stems, placing them against the dry ground and moving inside to grab some knives and other carving tools as well – at least the ones that he was actually able to use with just his mouth and paws. He found himself not for the first time wishing that Red was around to help him put, since the other would probably have an easier time of carving, given his hands. Still, Wormwood powered through, carefully cutting open several pumpkins, scooping out their guts, and then carving faces into them. His first few were very messy and almost looking more reminiscent of roadkill rather than faces, but eventually he got the hang of it, making several different kinds of faces to display around town. He then took one of the pumpkins – a starry eyed, grinning one – and plopped it up on the corner of his porch, before moving to put the rest of the carved pumpkins back in the cart, along with a couple of uncarved ones, and the tools that he had used.

He then took the handle of the cart and moved slowly out to the middle of their main town, occasionally grunting from the effort of pulling a huge wagon full of very heavy pumpkins, even with most of them hollowed out. However, he did eventually make it the whole way, panting with the effort of it as he sat back in the middle of camp, the guardsman taking a couple of minutes of rest before getting back up to his paws. He unloaded the carved pumpkins, along with the uncarved ones, yet again, and then called out as he looked around, his ears perked up for any responses, "Hey, if you're interested in Halloween stuff, can you please come over here for a minute?" He then waited for a moment until he felt a large enough group had amassed, and then kept his voice slightly raised so everyone could hear him before speaking again, "Hello! So, I carved a bunch of pumpkins for people to put up as Halloween decorations if they wanted to, so if you want to take one for your home, then feel free to take it! I also brought a couple of uncarved ones and my tools, so that if you wanted a jack o' lantern but didn't want any of the ones that I made, you could make one up to your standards." He then smiled and looked around the small group, glad that he could cheer people up in some way. He felt a bit silly, trying to get in the Halloween spirit while his son was still in the clutches of the Pitt, but... he needed to get his mind off of it somehow.

With every evening's fall, and subsequent morning's wake, Hallowe'en drew nearer. The hound never cared much for the special day, and rarely took part in any festivities as a result of his disfavour. Gummies, jujubes, and chocolate would just rot his teeth, so he did his best to stray from them - the latter being lethal if ingested for his species, anyways. Spooky films were already out of the question, for his poorly functioning eyes utterly refused to register screens or projected videos. Apple-bobbing barrels were cesspools of bacteria and saliva. Last Hallowe'en he did find time to put together a costume, though its quality rivaled that of freshly expelled phlegm and shit due to the bare-minimum effort that was put into its creation. To simply put it, Leroy did not give a damn about a kid's holiday. Pumpkin spice fell underneath the 'overrated as all hell' category, and for a celebration based around giving people the heebie jeebies, not a single aspect of it was frightening.

As of now, festive décor had already begun arising in the town's many nooks and crannies. Cardboard cutouts of ghosts and (hopefully) artificial skeletons became everyday observations, with witch hats and plastic body parts almost as commonplace. Yet no decoration was as prolific as the dignified Jack o'lantern. Practically the icon of Hallowe'en, carved pumpkins and gourds found homes near every home in the territory. The majority of them followed the basic Jack o'lantern formula: two eyes, and a toothy expression. Some, however, were a tad more interesting than that, wearing patterns of popular horror characters as well as other iconic figures. They always marveled him, the fashioned pumpkins did. In spite of the aversion he had towards the holiday associated with them, the Proxy couldn't help but gawk in awe each time an illuminated fruit crossed his wayward path. Even the cliché ones managed to steal his attention away from other affairs. Not because of the artistic aura they seemed to emanate. But because of envy. In the cur's point of view, he completely lacked the creativity and patience that carving pumpkin required of someone. Hell, he probably couldn't be trusted to merely handle a knife on his own in this current state.

Wormwood's call wasn't enough to grab hold of his attention span. The Guardsman seemed to find joy in hosting daily minigames or training sessions or whatnot, which the hound barely ever attended. Rather, it was the scent of fresh pumpkin that drew him to the scene. The male's ocular organs were failing, leaving him with a permanent blurred vision; but his nose still worked, despite it running wet with snot most of the time. His movement comes to a halt when the Lion is scarcely a few footfalls away. Dipping his noggin in a subtle bow, Tanglewood's second in command mouths a keen "Wormwood" in greeting, ere shifting his hazy glance in the harvested crops' direction. Stinging orange was the colour that painted the bulbous produce. He may be cursed with mild colourblindness, but he could still register the pumpkins' florescence.

A jack o'lantern of his own would be a nice way to leave his mark on the world, he imagined. A nod is shot in Wormwood's way, and the hound is off, helping himself to a handful of tools and a thickset pumpkin. The guts were as disgusting as he'd imagine they'd be - having not carved one before, the canine's process of crafting a jack o'lantern was fairly messy. Once the entrails were out of the picture, Leroy pointed a puzzled look at the plant he claimed, flummoxed as to what came next.

Right. The design.

Knifework wasn't his strong suit - when it came to blades, he preferred hacking and slashing in a crazed frenzy over delicate cuts done performed with the utmost care - though he was proud of his creation. A pumpkin, spruced up by a sloppily written HI engraved into its firm surface.

"She's a beauty."

If Worm was honest with himself, he knew deep down that pumpkin carving probably wasn't the absolute best use of his time when compared with certain other activities, but still, he needed something to occupy his time and his mind. Besides, pumpkin carving did tend to cheer up those around him who did enjoy the Halloween holiday, and even though it was difficult at first to figure out how to do the carving without hands, it had gradually gotten easier and easier with every pumpkin he carved. So much so that he hadn't even realized how many pumpkins he had carved until he was done, and he was forced to find a carriage to pile them all up into. He hadn't thought too much of it when he had called out, but when three others approached, some of them acting as if it was a big deal for so many of them to be carved by him, he felt a bit of an embarrassed blush coming up beneath his thick golden fur. Still, he just took a deep breath and smiled when the others approached, noticing Leroy greeting him and pulling away one of the few uncarved pumpkins to carve his own design on to. The lion felt a soft smile come to his muzzle as he dipped his head back at the proxy in greeting, before the canine wandered away to work on the pumpkin. Worm turned away for a moment to keep unloading the last of his pumpkins, when he heard Leroy's grunt and little mumble about his pumpkin being a beauty. Turning around, the guardsman took in the pumpkin for a moment before he chuckled and rumbled in amusement, "She really is, Leroy. I'm sure that anybody who looks at your pumpkin will feel very happy about being greeted, so nice job!" He pulled down the last of the pumpkins before Crowley and Selby approached, with Crowley asking if he did all of it on his own.

Shifting a bit awkwardly on his large paws, the lion rumbled as he folded his wings close against his back, turning around to face the demon before he spoke, his shoulders shrugging, "I suppose that I did it all by myself, but it isn't that big of a deal. I mean, I could use my claws like makeshift knives, so that sped it up a little." He then watched the feline look over several of the different pumpkins that were littered around, with a large variety of different faces gracing their little orange forms. He could definitely tell that the other was attempting to look detached when he chose a pumpkin for himself, but Worm couldn't help the smile and chuckle that left him when the fallen angel began to roll the pumpkin he had chosen just a bit away from the others, "Thanks Crowley. Glad they're up to your standards." There was a faint teasing tone in his voice, until his attention was pulled away by the approach of Selby. Blinking at the Sawbone, Worm found himself once again sheepishly chuckling, his tail flicking around behind him as he flicked a paw over some of the pumpkins that surrounded him, "Ah, you're welcome. Like I said, it was no problem. I just... I'm happy to make everybody else happy with these pumpkins. Especially the people who love Halloween. I know there's at least a few!"