There was just something enchanting about the glow of autumn that hung over the castle. Everything about the surrounding courtyard was beautiful, and it seemed like she had been discovering new parts of the gardens every single day. Today she found herself looking in on an interesting-looking structure that had walls and a ceiling made of thick glass. She could see the greenery just inside as it flourished inside, rather than out. Around the side of the building though, some fairly large gourds caught her attention. Some small, and some bigger than she was. However, all were in different shades of Orange, Yellow, Green, and white. Not entirely sure what they were, she made her way over to one. Reaching up a paw to touch it as she investigated. Strange, indeed.

Briar's new favorite hobby was wandering the castle and its grounds to see what shenanigans her little pups were getting into. They were all so inquisitive and curious as they began to explore their world and nothing brought her more joy than pretty much anything else right now. She moved through the castle gardens and as she neared the familiar green house she happened to spot the light tan and cream of her daughter inspecting their current crop of pumpkins. A grin lit up her face as she turned her path toward the little girl, her thickly braided tail swaying gently behind her. Tanyssa's little paw on one of the pumpkins was quite possibly one of the cutest things she had ever seen. "Having fun looking at the pumpkins?" she asked with a little chuckle as she walked up beside her, tipping her head down to give the top of Talyssa's head a loving nuzzle. She was still figuring out what sort of things caught the interest of which of her children, but she had a feeling Talyssa might enjoy her idea. "I was thinking about carving a couple of these to make decorations with... Would you like to help me?"

"Briar Carpathius"

Lifting her paw off one pumpkin, she gently made a move to touch one of its neighbors. The second one was much bumpier in nature, and not as smooth as the first one. She hadn’t realized just how absorbed she had gotten in her evaluation until her mother’s voice took her by surprise. Talyssa gasped, quickly looking over her shoulder, and immediately settling on the earthy tones of Briar’s feminine frame. She hadn’t quite registered what had even been said before a toothy grin tugged at her lips. “Yeah! Each one is different.” She acknowledged. Pumpkins. She would have to remember that.

Though, she was pulled from those thoughts with the gentle touch of affection on her forehead. Talyssa leaned into it, enjoying the one-on-one attention. But when Briar purposed the idea as to what they should do with the pumpkins, Talyssa was immediately engaged. “That sounds fun!” She responded gleefully. Except for one thing. “But how do you carve a pumpkin?” She asked expectantly.

Briar's grin brightened at Talyssa's excitement at the idea, but had to giggle softly when her daughter questioned how to carve a pumpkin. It felt like such a pup-like thing to be so excited about something that she had no idea how to do. "Go ahead and pick out your favorite one. I'll be right back with some tools." With one quick kiss to Talyssa's cheek she turned and trotted back into the castle, making her way toward the kitchen to get a couple of knives—one larger and one smaller—and a couple of bowls. She returned quickly to see which pumpkin her daughter had settled on. No matter which one she picked she gave Talyssa an equally pleased grin and a nod all the same. "Very good choice!" she said approvingly before grasping the larger knife carefully between her teeth and using it to cut the pumpkin free of its vine.

"Lets take this over here so we have more room to work," she said, passing off the light weight wooden bowls to the little pup to carry while she rolled the pumpkin over to a grassy patch and then went back in a second trip for the knives. "So first we need to cut open a place to get to the inside!" she said with a smile, tapping the top of the pumpkin. "I'll handle that part this time, okay? I wouldn't want you accidentally getting hurt on the knife." She made pretty quick work of cutting a hole around the top of the pumpkin and soon she pulled the new lid free by the pumpkin's stem. Tipping the pumpkin over so that Talyssa could reach she said, "Now we have to get all this gooey, stringy stuff out. Think you can handle that part?" She giggled and let her daughter get to work on the more fun, messy task of the project, scooping up the globs of pumpkin insides as they were pulled out onto the ground so that she could load them up in the bowls.

With that all done and the pumpkin prepped for carving, she sat it back on it's base and get the smaller knife at the ready. "Now the really fun part! We can make whatever kind of design you want on the front. We could make a face, a pattern, a flower, some flames... whatever you feel like!" Smiling, she pulled Talyssa closer to sit the little girl between her front paws with the pumpkin in front of them. She kept a hold of the knife, but let Talyssa guide her movements, following her daughter's lead to carve out a design into the surface of the pumpkin.

"Briar Carpathius"

Talyssa was vaguely aware of the kiss on her cheek before her mother momentarily departed. However, the instructions that she had been left were taken to heart. Pick your favorite one. How could you just have one favorite? She loved them all for one reason or another. But if she had to choose just one, she would go with a smooth, orange one. Not the largest one in the bunch, not the smallest. Honestly, there wasn't anything too special about it, but she thought that they could make it special by carving it. After all the internal debate, Talyssa attempted to roll her chosen canvas off to the side a couple of times. It was much heavier than it looked. And just as she was trying to do so, she felt the presence of her mother return. A few seconds later, she heard her voice. "Thanks!" The girl proudly acknowledged the praise she was given, as she withdrew from trying to force the pumpkin away from the others. Finally peeling her pale blue gaze off her prize, her attention shifted to Briar, and she was kind of surprised by all the stuff Momma had brought back. Lyssie wanted to ask what it was all for but knew that it would all be explained in time.

Talyssa was always so amazed at how adults were able to make such quick work of tasks that were really difficult for her. She watched as Briar rolled the pumpkin with ease and a long way too. But she didn't have much time to dwell on it, because the pumpkin carving lesson had already begun. She watched with intent as Briar explained they had to make an opening, and that she would do the cutting for safety. "Okay!" Her voice never wavering in its enthusiastic tone. She learned better by watching the first time anyways. Talyssa was so impressed watching her mother cut through the top of the gourd. She did it so easily.

As soon as the top hole had been cut, the fawn-spotted fae was very eager to see what was inside. As Briar tipped it in her direction, she was surprised at what was inside. While the outside may be smooth, the inside was far from it. It was a stringy mess, with little white seeds scattered throughout. When the next part was explained to her, she looked up in shock and amusement. "Yeah, I'll try." She responded timidly. Cautiously, she stuck a paw into the open pumpkin, the warmth and humidity noticeably different on the inside. But when the slimy strands squished between her toes, she also couldn't help but wrinkle her nose. "Eeewww!" She giggled while raking a fistful of it out and plopping it down in one of the bowls that had been set aside. "Why is it so nasty!?" She said in more of a squeal of delight than anything else. Yes, it was nasty. But not nasty enough to make her want to stop.

Eventually, she had the pumpkin emptied. When she was done, she was deeply satisfied by the now clean looking inside. All the innards laying in a heap within the contents of the bowls. Her white paw was stained orange now, but that was okay. She was sure it would come off at bath time. But there was no time to think about that now. There was still work to be done! When Momma went to reposition her, she slid into the intended position willingly. Gently resting a paw near Briar's to help guide. Whatever design you want. It only took her a moment to pinpoint exactly what they should do. "Let's give him a happy face!" Talyssa declared, watching very closely as Briar did the carving.