#the spookiest thing about this piece was cutting to match the lines | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

quickwrites · 6 years

Text

Papa Kitty: Carvings

“Halloween” they called it. No matter how many times the other humans explained the concept, Keith could not understand why they were so excited for this particular day. From what they said it sounded like a holiday aimed more at children what with the dressing up and “trick or treating” yet even Shiro spoke of the day with great fondness and was thrilled when Antok and Regris revealed vegetables they had found that matched a description Hunk had given them of an Earth pumpkin.

Once the other paladins saw the vegetables that was the end of it. Keith gave up on questioning reason and allowed himself to be roped into “gutting” and carving the gourds with everyone else in the lounge. Everyone somehow got involved on the carving, even the Princess and Blades who usually showed no interest in the Earth traditions the paladins talked about at length. Thace, Ulaz, Coran and Kolivan had found as many old blankets that they could and covered the floors with them to keep the mess to a minimum while allowing people to spread out. Most people were working in groups of three to discuss their designs while they cut open the tops the way Shiro had demonstrated and put all the seeds and stringy meat into bowls. Hunk made sure to remind everyone to get all the seeds out and into the bowls because he’d turn them into a snack later.

Once all the gourds were cleaned out the instructions were simple enough to follow. Use a small knife to cut a design out of the side of the vegetables so that when a light is shone through it would make an image. Most of the Blades opted to use their personal weapons for this task, having the most comfort with the familiar shaped knives in their hands instead of the oddly shaped jagged sticks Hunk and Pidge had put together. Keith tried to use the small stick that Lance had handed him at first but very quickly gave up and switched to his own blade as well.

“And done,” Lance shouted, turning his pumpkin around to reveal his work.

“Uh,” Keith said looking up and frowning. Lance’s design consisted of two triangles next to each other with a third on in the middle and at the bottom was a crescent shape with about a dozen more triangles pointing in towards each other. “What is that?”

“It’s a Shark-O-Lantern,” Lance said, beaming over the top of the vegetable. “It’s like a normal Jack-o-Lantern but with shark teeth so it’s like, a million times cooler!”

“Uh... huh,” Keith said slowly, frowning at the shapes for a moment longer then looking back down at his own work.

“What are you working on then, Mullet-Head,” Lance asked, suddenly at Keith’s shoulder with his chest pressing against the Red Paladin’s shoulder.

Keith felt his chest tighten as his breathing stopped for a moment, fingers tightening on the handle in his hand. “It’s ah- it’s the Blades of Marmora insignia.”

“Oh,” Lance said, sounding so disappointed that Keith wondered if he had done something wrong. “Nah that’s really cool, man,” he added quickly. “Just wasn’t expecting that. Not very Halloween-y, you know?”

“No... I don’t know,” Keith said, glancing over at Lance with a pointed look. “I don’t get what this whole thing is about. You said to carve an image into the gourd so I carved an image into the gourd.”

“Right no,” Lance said, some of the color going out of his cheeks. “No you’re right. It looks great!” He cleared his throat, leaning back away from Keith and looked up. “Hunk, what are you making?”

“A piece of candy,” Hunk replied, his tongue between his teeth as he sawed through the side of the pumpkin. “One giant piece of candy!”

Lance let out a little laugh as Keith rolled his eyes and looked back at his work. “Pidge, Shiro what about you two?”

“I’ve got a cat,” Shiro replied, turning his pumpkin to reveal a messy outline of an arch feline and smiled ruefully. “This is a lot harder than I remember it being from the last time I did this.”

“Maybe you had a stencil last time,” Pidge suggested helpfully, turning her pumpkin to poke holes into it with a fat needle and consulting her computer screen. “Stencil’s make everything easier.”

“Yeah, I probably did,” Shiro agreed then looked over his shoulder. “Allura, Coran. How are your carvings coming out?”

“Oh, quiet alright here,” Coran said, beaming up from the lavender gourd. “I’m just putting the finishing touches on. Just you wait!”

“How about a sneak peak,” Lance said, smiling.

“Oh you wish,” Coran said suddenly wrapping himself around the pumpkin. “No peaking until I’m done!”

Allura chuckled softly, her eyes narrowing at the design in her hand. “I am also nearly done,” she said. “This is much harder than I thought it would be. One wrong cut and the entire thing is ruined!”

“Yeah they can be difficult,” Lance said retaking his seat in front of his pumpkin and leaning back on his palms with his legs stretched out in front of him. “But you have to admit! They are very fun!”

“Oh yes,” Coran agreed, returning to his work. “Nothing like making a big mess and mutilating plants for an entertaining afternoon of bonding!”

“Quite right,” Allura agreed.

The Blades collectively looked up from their own work, conversations hushing, as they stared at the Alteans for a moment then looked at each other with mixed expressions of concern and bemusement. A few shook their heads and ducked down again to focus on their work while a couple murmured softly to their neighbor about “strange ways” but no one dared make any comment that would reach past the ears in their own group as the conversation restarted as a whole again.

After a time, everyone finished their work and the vegetables were lined up on a few shelves put together for just that reason. Most of the Blades designed cut outs of their personal weapons into their pumpkins. Regris had opted to make the motherboard of his favorite type of computer and Ulaz and Thace had worked together on the same vegetable to create an integrate design of lines and symbols. Allura’s was a simplified design of her favorite flower from Altea while Coran had managed to carve a likeness of himself in a billowing cape.

Pidge stole the show however, but waiting until everyone had put their lights into their pumpkins and the lights had been turned off to even set her pumpkin down. The sides of the vegetable had thousands of holes punched into the sides, some bigger than others and Keith thought it was rather pretty all on it’s own. It wasn’t until she placed a glass dome over the top of the pumpkin that the nature of her design was reveal.

“That’s Orion,” Lance said excitedly, pointing up at a series of dots that were now being reflected on the ceiling from Pidge’s pumpkin.

“And there are the big and little dippers,” Hunk said, pointing at another spot.

“Even the dogs and the dragon are there,” Shiro said pointing to several spots before looking at Pidge with a smile. “This is incredable, Pidge! You got all of them up here!”

“It’s almost like being back home,” Lance said, spinning on the spot and smiling at all the dots. “Pidge, you are a genius!”

“I know,” Pidge said, pushing her glasses up her nose with a smile. “But thanks for noticing.”

----------

Characters belong to Voltron Legendary Defenders

Happy Halloween everyone! I hope you are having a wonderful and safe day on this the spookiest day of the year!

Real talk, I love halloween but haven’t been able to celebrate it (I feel) to its fullest since my freshman year of high school. Ever since then I’ve always had other things going on to prevent me from really getting into it. One year I was even sick all day with a horrible stomach bug that made everything unappetizing so I couldn’t even enjoy eating food that was bad for me. One day I hope to fix that but I think it probably won��t be until I have my own place and maybe even my own kids. Right now, we don’t even get trick or treaters of any notable size to our door so it’s harder to get into the dress up spirit. I did however get my hands on some classic monster movies that I’m going to watch with my Fiance once he gets home and before I have to go to sleep for my shift so that’ll be fun!

What are you all doing for Halloween? Tell me about it either in the replies or in an ask! I’d love to hear about them!

75 notes · View notes