8439/It's the Great Pumpkin Massacre!

It's the Great Pumpkin Massacre!
Date of Scene:	25 October 2021
Location:	Breakstone Lake
Synopsis:	Pumpkin carving goes a little wrong when Tabby startles Dashenka, Roxxi, and the other students with flashbangs.
Cast of Characters:	Tabitha Smith, Dashenka Ivanov, Roxxi Smith

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Tabitha Smith has posed:
Though there have been pumpkins setup in a different location for carving, Tabitha Smith has brought some of the students out to the lake for her own pumpkin related event. An entire pumpkin patch's worth of pumpkins have been set up in the area near the lake along with all the tools people might need for carving. All of this setup has been surrounded by tiki torches stuck in the ground.

Dashenka Ivanov has posed:
Dashenka decided to go out for a swim tonight but instead of finding a peaceful lake free of people she finds Tabitha and some students out here carving some pumpkins. She walks up curiously to see what people are doing. They are... gutting and carving holes in pumpkins. Why?

When she approaches, the other students seem to shy away from the imposingly big girl. She finds the person who looks like she's in charge and greets her. "Privyet," she says in her deep, husky voice. "What is happening?"

Roxxi Smith has posed:
     Roxxi was glad to hear about the group pumpkin carving. She was afraid all those pumpkins Marie had dropped off at the garage would go to waste! Even though she'd already carved one pumpkin she was happy to carve more! Dressed in her toasty Jack Skellington sweater, the currently green-haired teen headed towards the lake. Behind her she pulled a wagon, with a large kettle of spiced apple cider,cups,and a second smaller container.
    "Save the seeds, we can roast them!" Roxxi calls, not far behind Dasha.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Tabitha Smith glances at the shying students then says, "Okay. So... Urban survival lesson for the evening... letting something that scares you know it scares you is a good way to end up in a bad place. Also, don't be a jerk to your fellow students. It's rude." She turns to offer a grin to Dashenka, "Welcome! Would you care to join us in gutting and carving a pumpkin patch in honor of the Great Pumpkin? My good friend Charlie Brown tells me he will be here come Halloween if only we believe." Another grin is offered to Roxxi, "Excellent! Someone thought to bring snacks. That shoulda been me. We have buckets for the guts so seeds can be fished out of them later in fact. And in case people don't remember, "I am Tabby or Boom Boom or Boomer. Take your pick."

Dashenka Ivanov has posed:
Dashenka just blinks uncomprehendingly at Tabby. "Great Pumpkin?" she asks. "I do not understand." When the older woman introduces herself, Dashenka gives her a curt nod. "Ah. Dashenka. It is good to meet you." Now that she's spoken more than a question it's clear that English isn't her first language. In fact she has comically thick Russian accent.

When Roxxi arrives a hint of relief gets past her impassive mask. "Roxxi," she greets. "I do not understand what is happening here."

Roxxi Smith has posed:
     "I'm Roxxi." She informs Tabby with a cheerful grin. She motioned to her wagon. "Well, I only brought cider..." Roxxi hadn't had any of Tabby's Urban Survival classes. After surviving as a Street Kid for about a year and a half, she'd had plenty of experience.
     Roxxi parked her wagon and smiled brightly at Dasha. "Hiya Dash! Halloween is coming up soon, which is also my birthday. It's a tradition on Halloween to carve out pumpkins, and put candles in them, to fool the restless spirits and keep them away! Wanna try?"

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Tabitha Smith snaps, "Dashenka! Sam asked me to translate any slang you were confused over into plain English for you as I am the queen of English slang. I don't speak a lot of Russian but I do know a word or two here and there from my girl, Illyana Rasputina. You'll find the accent doesn't bother me."

Tabby gestures to one of the unoccupied pumpkins, "We are going to carve every last one of these pumpkins and then have some fun. We will not be putting candles in them. That is not our purpose." She gives Roxxi a grin before explaining, "There was a Halloween cartoon about a kid named Charlie Brown. One of his friends Linus spent the entire night waiting for some mythical creature called the Great Pumpkin who supposedly came to believers on Halloween the way Santa does at Christmas. Take a pumpkin and get started. If one of the tools is not where it should be, I'll track it down for you. We're making them as ugly as we can get them."

Dashenka Ivanov has posed:
"What is Halloween," Dashenka asks. "I have heard other students talk about this, but I do not know what it is." She looks over to the other children carving out pumpkins skeptically. "Are spirits restless in America? We did not have this problem in the Project."

She looks between Tabby and Roxxi as they try to encourage her to carve her own pumpkin. She gives them a curt nod and walks over to one of the pumpkins and picks it up in her hands, turning it around to examine it. "What do I do?"

Roxxi Smith has posed:
     "Oh, I remember that cartoon!" She says excitedly to Tabby. "I've never waited for the Great Pumpkin before." She pulls the wagon close and grabs a cup of the cider before grabbing the necessary tools to help the taller teen.
     "All Saints Day? Do you have anything like that in Russia? Well, that's where Halloween came from. All Hallows Eve. I don't think there's restless spirits, but I don't really know." Roxxi flopped down, to sit cross-legged on the ground. "Here sit. First, we have to cut out a circle on the top for a lid. then we have to scoop all the insides out!"

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Tabitha Smith picks an uncarved pumpkin near the one she pointed Dashenka to. "Some people believe the dead rise on the last day of the month and evil things walk the night. People used to wear masks to keep the evil things from noticing them, but now we just wear costumes for fun and collect candy."

Tabby picks up the knife to carve out the top, "So first you carve out a circle from the top so you can get in and scrape out the guts. When we have it open, we dump the guts in the bucket so we can eat the seeds later like Roxxi said. Then you carve a design on the pumpkin to give it a face. That's what the little saw-y things are for. Ugliest face gets a prize from the supposed adult involved, aka me."

Dashenka Ivanov has posed:
"I do not know if Russia has this." Dashenka admits, sitting on the ground next to Roxxi. "This is holiday, yes? We had no holidays in project."

She takes the knife and jabs it into the top of the pumpkin, easily piercing the gourd. She cuts a hole around the stem as instructed and pulls it off, looking inside to see the guts of the pumpkin.

"So this is... uh... suyeveriye." She shakes her head, "I do not know English word. It is where you believe in things that are not true. Like ghosts and monsters." She takes up the large spoon and starts to scoop out the goo and seeds. "There are evil things," she says, "and they do walk the night. But I do not think this Halloween is different than any other night for this."

Roxxi Smith has posed:
     "Superstition?" Roxxi guesses of the unknown word and looks to Tabby for confirmation. She sets her cup of cider down and leans over to grab her own pumpkin. She too slices skillfully into the gourd, though there's a good deal less force behind hers.
    "Wellll, I don't know if more spirits are out and about or not, but it is different from every other day because it's my birthday! And, you get to dress up in costumes. And, eat lots of candy. Though my third Foster home didn't observe Halloween or birthdays."

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Tabitha Smith chuckles and pops up to get the bucket so everyone can dump their guts in them. She digs down into her own pumpkin with a big spoon so most of the gross stays with the spoon instead of her. "Oh yeah. Halloween is all about creepy stories and superstitions. And horror flicks. And little kids getting candy and juvenile delinquents playing pranks on people. Sometimes good-natured but often not."

Dashenka Ivanov has posed:
"Da. Super-sti-shun," Dashenka says, slowly repeating the word. "I do not know my birthday," she admits. "It was not something we... er... otmechayetsya. Practiced." That's not the right word but it's close. Her hand gets goopy as she scoops out the guts, but it doesn't seem to bother her at all.

"The stories and the movies. They are supposed to scare you, da?" There's a slight shake of the head. "I am not scared."

Roxxi Smith has posed:
     Roxxi nods as Tabby mentions the pranks. "I once had my jack-o-lantern smashed. I was pretty sad." She starts scooping out the guts and emptying them into the bucket provided by the other woman. "I guess since we aren't putting a candle in it, you don't have to get it TOO clean, but scrap it out a bit, makes carving easier," Roxxi instructs as Dasha scoops out the gloopy guts.
     After they emptied the pumpkins Roxxi looks over at the taller teen. "Now, draw a face on it, or you can carve freestyle. " Roxxi, for her part, takes out a marker to sketch an outline on her pumpkin.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Tabitha Smith shrugs, "I've run across far scarier things than any story or movie could be, but sometimes it's fun to let somebody try." Just as she's about to open her mouth again, one of the other students calls her name and Tabby says, "Be back in a bit, my chicas." She leaves her pumpkin partway gutted to hop up and go make the rounds of the 'pumpkin patch' to help and get things fixed up and judged for people, usually declaring a pumpkin far too cute.

Dashenka Ivanov has posed:
Dashenka nods to Roxxi and picks up a marker. She completely misunderstands what she means by 'draw a face' so she draws something appropriately human looking which you totally wouldn't be able to carve.

"Mmm," she says as she works. "To some people /I/ was monster, chudovishche." she says. She looks out at some of the other students who had given her a wide berth. "To some people I am still monster."

Ice blue eyes turn back to her drawing as she makes a few finishing touches on it. If she were drawing on paper it wouldn't look half bad. But on pumpkin? No way.

Roxxi Smith has posed:
     Roxxi drops her pumpkin in her lap to deliver a spontaneous Roxxi-hug. Of course, it's easy to decline. "You are not a monster, and sometimes, some people are just mean." She then picks her pumpkin back up.
     A glance over at Dash's drawing gets a few giggles. "That looks so good Dash, but, um.. that's not the kinda face I meant..." She holds up her own doodled on gourd, with a more standard  triangle eyed, jagged tooth smiled jack-o-lantern face.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
In the spirit of spooking people and Halloween pranks, after she has checked on everybody, Tabby tosses up a pair of time bombs that are nothing but flashbangs with no real explosion above the carvers. Can't hurt in the process of making an ugly pumpkin face right? Then she heads back over to her own pumpkin and gives Dash a grin. "I think I might make an exception for that one if you managed to figure out a way to carve it, but we're supposed to be making them ugly."

Dashenka Ivanov has posed:
Dashenka has never turned away from a Roxxi hug. While she's still not quite sure what she should /do/ while being hugged, she'll sit there and accept them. She turns to see what Roxxi has drawn and nods. "I see." She turns her pumpkin around to the other side and takes out the marker to begin making another face.

But that's all interrupted when Tabby's flashbang goes off. With a swiftness that belies her size she's already on her feet, having shifted to her polar bear form. While going up and shifting, she grabbed Tabby and roughly yanked her behind her, so she can interpose herself between the danger and Roxxi and Tabitha.

"Ostavaysya pozadi menya. Tam ty budesh' v bezopasnosti," she says, forgetting English, and her eyes glance around for potential threats, a snarl curling at her lip and a deep rumbling growl in her throat.

Roxxi Smith has posed:
     Roxxi nods as Dash begins to draw on the blank side of her pumpkin. "Something snarling and..." and then Tabby's bomb gag is in the air, and a polar bear is standing where her friend had been.
     As a seasoned Street Kid, and Foster Kid, there were two basic reflexes triggered by the mini-explosion: Duck for cover, or go on the defense. Roxxi went with the latter, as she peered around Bear-Dash, with sudden out-of-nowhere knives in her hands. "Dash? Dash I think that was a prank..."

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Despite her previous comment about not getting scared, Tabby screams just like a little girl when she is abruptly grabbed by a polar bear and yanked behind her. To her credit, she gets herself together really quickly. She puts her hand on Dashenka's back briefly before saying, "That was just me, Dashenka. My mutant ability is making little time bombs. I didn't mean to scare anyone that bad. Most o'the people here already knew about my power from before."

Although that doesn't mean much since everyone else seems to have ducked for cover as well. After a glance around, Tabby says, "It wasn't even the real deal. All noise and light, no real bang."

Dashenka Ivanov has posed:
Dashenka's tense muscles slowly relax as she takes in what Tabby has to say. Just a prank. She turns to the older mutant and nods. "I am sorry," she says. "Training in the Project makes you ready for combat like *that*" she says, trying to snap her fingers, but her giant paws just aren't meant for it.

She looks down at her shredded clothes and shoes and starts to gather them into a pile. "Sometimes they would shoot guns while we slept to test us," she says. "Have to always be ready to fight."

She stares out over the water for a moment, lost in recollection until she pulls herself back into the present. She sits back down and picks up the pumpkin, now completely dwarfed in her hands and considers it.

Roxxi Smith has posed:
     Roxxi puts away her knives, sort of a silly sight when compared to the Polar bear. She looks at Tabby, to the other recovering students, to Dasha, and Back to Tabby. And then, just like that, she was over it. She smiled brightly at Tabby, and tried to extend a Roxxi hug (tm) to the other mutant as well. "I do explosions too, but, not like that."
     Roxxi gives Dasha a minute or two of quiet before she's peering around the bear once more. "Um... You want me to run and fetch you a change of clothes? How long do you, uh, stay like that?"

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Tabitha Smith grimaces just a bit, "I am very sorry for upsetting you, Dashenka. That was thoughtless o'me. I shoulda thought about you and Roxxi not knowin' what I can do." She slowly moves back to her pumpkin as she asks, "Ya gonna be okay?" Roxxi's attempt hug draws a smile, "We should get together in the Danger Room at some point."

Dashenka Ivanov has posed:
"I prefer to be like this," Dashenka answers Roxxi. "It is comforting. More natural." She turns her ice blue eyes towards the mansion. "They say I cannot be like this all the time. Also, I do not fit inside very well." She shrugs, and turns back to her pumpkin, and deftly picks up the marker. "If you are uncomfortable, you can pick up clothes."

She nods to Tabitha, "I am okay, but what is Danger Room?"

Roxxi Smith has posed:
     Roxxi shrugs at Dash, and gives her friend's back a scritch. Because, what else do you do with an enormous mutant were-polar bear? "No, I'm okay if you're okay." She flopped back down, to start the carving process.
     Roxxi nodded as Dash asked about the Danger Room. "Yeah, what is it? I heard it mentioned but.." She shrugged again. New kid on campus.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Tabitha Smith carves into her pumpkin without any regard for aesthetics as she explains, "It's a place where some of us mutants practice with our powers. It can make things that don't really exist. Though come to think of it, I dunno if I'm even allowed to use it since I'm not formally a teacher even though I teach the one survival class."

Dashenka Ivanov has posed:
"Ah," Dashenka says, nodding a bit. It's kind of amazing how dexterous her paws are. Even though the magic marker is tiny in them she's still able to manipulate it well enough to draw a crude replica of what Roxxi had drawn on hers.

"I do not need to practice my power," she says, putting the pen down watching Roxxi and Tabby as they carve their pumpkins. "Sometimes I am bear? Sometimes I am not. It is simple."

Those who have been around Dashenka for a while would notice that she's a bit more animated as a bear. Gone is her stiff military like presence and is replace with, paradoxically, something more human. There's actually expression on her ursine features, and more movement in her body.