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the pumpkin king !

──● jack
THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS

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"How did she ask you? Was it so romantic? Delaney, I need details!" Jady's whine reverbrated across the room, arms thrown around her sister's neck as she pleaded for the romantic embroiderment of Delaney's newly budding relationship. Her other siblings were gathered around as well, clearly somewhat invested in whatever information that she chose to indulge them in. 

The living room was warm, fire crackling with sweet warmth. Kasumi was knelt beside it, facing Delaney- her other siblings scattered about the room on couches, or leaning against walls and arches as Jady continued her desperate pleading with what exactly had happened.

Delaney giggled, lightly pushing her baby sister off of her, smothering a snicker as she curled further into the couch. "Oh, stop it, all of you-"

Elijah rolled his eyes, "We litterally didn't say anything."

She scrunched her nose back in retaliation, clutching a warm cup of cocoa in her hands. "You didn't have too, you're all staring at me, waiting for me to spill everything." Elijah rolled his eyes in response, as did Akiho, sharing a look with him before they book looked at her expectantly.

Merlene raised her own eyebrow, tilting her head from where she was leaning against the wall. "Well, are you?"

"Am I what?"

"Going to tell us?"

Jasiri huffed "You have to Laney, you're the only one right now with a somewhat stable relationship."

Junpei paused for a moment, then frowned, looking at her. "What about Lars?"

Jasiri seemed hesitant, then shrugged, "I don't know. He's acting all weird and distant, it's whatever. It's not like we're officially together anyway." Another beat of silence, and Jasiri's smile returned, shaking her head. "This isn't about me though! It's about Rune and Delaney!"

Laney watched as Kasumi gently reached over, slipping her arm into the crook of Jasiri's in silent comfort. Yume leaned against her on the couch, dropping the back of her head into her shoulder. "I can't get over that you guys are Cinderella, seriously, how fucking cute is that."

Delaney chuckled, shaking her head. Keitaro, who was sitting on the ottoman across from the couch leaned forward, bracing his elbows against his knees. "I've been thinking about that actually, and I do absolutely agree that they're Cinderella without a doubt, but are we sure it's Delaney who is actually Cinderella?" He looked to Kasumi, motioning to her. "Sumi brought it up to me last night, while you were out with Rune. And actually, it does make a lot more sense for Rune to be Cinderella."

Elliot leaned forward too, from where he was sitting on the ground. "Why's that?"

Reysa clicked her tongue, "Actually, you might be right. Rune's got an evil mother, or whatever, right?"

At the mention of Janet Stellan, Delaney's heart sank into her chest, a broil of fury stirring in her stomach. She nodded anyway. Jasiri blinked, looking to Kasumi, who was smiling like she had a secret, and Jas looked over her shoulder at the whiteboard on her lap, reading what it said. "Plus, she arrived at midnight- that's a good point Kas." Jasiri looked back to Elliot beside them, who had frowned.

"Well, yeah, but the whole thing is that she's supposed to leave at midnight, to get back home in time, right?"

Yume, who was still leaning against Delaney's side, hummed. "Well, what is it that Fairy Godmother says in the movie, be home before midnight, right?"

Jady, whose arms were still half around Delaney, nodded. "Right."

"Well, maybe in this story it was meant in a figurative sense. Like the saying, home is where the heart is." She looked towards the ceiling. "It's pretty clear that Rune's heart is with you, Laney, so maybe the get home before midnight was a reference towards her getting here."

Something inside Delaney's heart melted a little, dripping onto her ribcage, and painting it into the colors of love and affection. "Stop-" She covered her mouth with both hands, closing her eyes. "Stop it right now, that's so cute. Rune's so cute, oh my God."

Jady giggled, "You're so in love."

Exasperatingly, she shoved her kid sister off of her, ducking under her arms and standing up. Yume let out a muffled huff as she landed flat on her back from where she'd been leaning against her sister. "Oh stop it, Jady." There was no real malice in her voice. "So what if I am? How could I not be? She's like a princess?"

Reysa shrugged, "We stan a sapphic princess."

"She's so beautiful, and lovely, and perfect, and kind, and perfect."

Elliot raised his eyebrow at her, "You said perfect twice-"

"That's how perfect she is!"

Elijah rolled his eyes, "Anyway, Delaney, are you going to tell us how Rune asked you to be her girlfriend or not?"

Delaney hummed, hearing the jingling sound of the bell collar that her black cat, Pumpkin, had around her neck. Scooping him up into her arms as he reached the bottom of the stairs, she trailed back over to her siblings, humming as the pool of hot affection in her gut warmed again. "Alright, alright." She waved her hand, sitting back on the couch, this time with Pumpkin in her lap, feeling him start to knead his claws against her skirt. "It was last night, obviously, she took me to her favorite thrift shop, and we got boba afterwards, and it was so nice and cute, and then the date was over, and Rune just asked if I wanted to put a label on what we were. I did, obviously, but I tried to play it like I wouldn't care either way because I don't want to force her if she doesn't want to, and she asked me to be her girlfriend, and obviously I said yes." She smiled, massaging Pumpkin's ears where he was now falling asleep on her lap. Sighing happily, "She's so cute."

Jady was absolutely beaming, hands clasped tightly over her mouth, shifting back and forth. "Oh my God- Oh my God, you guys are so cute. I can't." She flopped over on the couch, shifting to be upside down and throwing her legs over the headboard, her head hanging off the lower edge. "I wanna be in love."

Delaney rolled her eyes, reaching down to brush the hair from her face. "You will be, eventually. You're only sixteen Jady, you don't need to worry so much about it right now."

Jady only smiled, and Akiho,who'd been silent for the most part, frowned. "Does this mean we're all gonna follow some kind of Disney love story? It's not like i'm against falling in love, or anything like that, but I haven't so much as found someone I'm even remotely interested in yet."

Elijah scoffed, "Yeah, I second that actually."

Reysa seemed to hesitate. "Well, just because we've been infused with some kind of bullshit Disney magic, doesn't mean we'll fall in love. A lot of the newer movies are less about love, and more about finding yourself and stuff - so maybe we won't?"

Merlene pushed off the edge. "Good point, actually. I mean, I'm not really looking for a partner either, i'm pretty content with just my best friend, so," she shrugged. "And no one can make us fall in love either, we still have feelings and shit."

There was a murmer of agreement, and once more, like it usually did, soft silence fell over them. It was warmer than it had been before. Not that dark, hollow feeling, but something a little bit lighter. Delaney couldn't help but smile, looking down at the kitten, fast asleep in her lap. The collar was violet, with a little silver bell so they could be able to hear when he trotted through the house.

Yume looked at her after a moment, thinking aloud. "Hey, Laney?"

"Mhm?"

"What's Rune going to do about her living situation?"

At the reminder of that particular situation that Rune had found herself in, Delaney sighed a little. "She went back to her mother's - apparently Janet had been so drunk she didn't even remember kicking Rune out. Rune decided she wants to stick out the semester there." She shrugged, "As much as I don't want her to be there, it'd be a nightmare trying to move right now. She's just going to be careful."

"She can't stay with us?" Jasiri sat up a little taller, tilting her head. Delaney shook her head.

"It's not that. Dad said she could, even, but Rune said she'd rather not stay here. Something about not wanting to put early strain on our relationship by living practically together, and she doesn't want to overwhelm dad anymore than he might already be."

Elliot shook his head. "No kidding, his secretary quit you know, don't know over what. So now he has to find a new one." He sighed, "That's nice of Rune though, to consider that."

Delaney nodded. "I don't want her there, but really it doesn't look like there's any other options. Next semester we're gonna try to get a dorm or something together at the school, which will be good I think."

Keitaro nodded, rubbing his jaw. "Yeah  - speaking of Rune, when is she coming over to carve pumpkins today? We only have a couple days till Halloween, and Kas' birthday of course." He looked over, smiling shortly at Kasumi, who clearly brightened at even the thought of her birthday being remembered.

Kas was funny like that. The mention that her siblings remembered always seemed to shock her every year. If Delaney thought about it too much, it made her sad, but on the surface it was nothing but endearing. She looked back to Kei, glancing at the clock behind him. "Oh! She'll be arriving soon- do you think Raine's finished the Halloween cookies so we can frost them?"

"Actually, uh, about that." Elijah started, reaching up to run a hand through his hair, rubbing the back of his neck. "I thought it'd be nice if I could make them, this year." He paused, hesitated. "I've been practicing with Raine, and It'd...It'd mean a lot to me if I could."

The siblings were all silent for a moment, staring at him in complete silence. Yume pursed her lips, hiding a smile underneath her hand. "Elijah, that's so sweet. Oh my God."

Elijah scowled at her, looking away, clearly ignoring the slight flush of his cheeks. "I'm not. Leave me alone. Shut up."

"Oh my God. You're just a softie deep down. Oh my God."

"Yume!" He looked at her, still scowling. "Stop that!"

"Okay!" SHe held her hands up in mock surrender, smothering a laugh. "Okay, okay - I got it. I'll stop." She stood instead, happily skipping over to him, "Well it's fine with me if you do. I'd love it, actually, and this way maybe Raine could get a couple days off before Halloween. She really deserves it." Yume looked back at her other siblings, watching them nod and speak in agreement, before she turned back to Elijah, who's scowl was permanently etched onto his face.

"Yeah. That's why I thought of this idea, obviously, Yume."

"Of course you did." Yume's smile was giddy, and she held out her arms to him. "Hug?"

"No." He looked at her, half-heartedly glaring, even though his scowl had softened. Yume contineud to look at him, and he sighed dramatically, holding his arms up weakly. "Fine."

Yume hugged him then, happily, then let go, patted his cheek, and turned around to face the rest of her siblings. "Okay! Let's go get the pumpkins from outside, and Elijah can start on the cookies!" Her enthusiasm seemed to bleed into the room, and she reached over to help Junpei up, who was smiling lightly at her. She took his arm in her own, pulling him towards the outside, prattling about how Junpei, Merlene, and Jady were the athletes here, so she needed their help with the very large pumpkins. Keitaro rolled his eyes at that, shaking his head as she followed.

Delaney couldn't help the warmth that exploded into her stomach as she set Pumpkin aside, standing to follow her siblings as well. Trotting after them. Yume swung the door open, and much like that night not so long ago, Rune stood there. The view now, was much peferable to the one then. She was dressed in flare out navy pants, with an orange shirt that had navy lettering underneath, and a matching navy jacket. Her hand was raised to knock, but she quickly dropped it once she saw the gathering of Delaney's siblings at the front door.

Rune stared for a moment, then just blinked, looking all of them over. "Hello." She held out her hand to Yume, who was standing in the front, Jady peaking desperately over her shoulder. "I don't believe we've officially met. My name is Rune Stellan."

Yume pursed her lips, but took her hand in a handshake. Delaney might have laughed at her girlfriend's formality, but instead she weaved through the crowd, to the front, taking Rune's hand and pulling her back outside. "We're just about to get the pumpkins for carving! You can help us."

Rune blinked, looking back at the siblings, then back to Delaney, and another one of her classic soft smiles rose as she nodded shortly. "Alright." Delaney beamed back up at her, ignoring the blatant stares and whispers of her siblings as they walked. The pumpkins were just in a pile, not far from the porch at all, covered by a tarp. One by one, with multiple stops for jokes, laughter, and everything in between, they took apart the pile, and rebuilt it in the large kitchen, where Elijah, with the recruitment of Kasumi, had begun to gather ingredients for Raine's classic pumpkin chocolate-chip cookies. They had them every year without fail.

Rune, while quiet, was quick to warm up to the majority of her siblings. Even if it did make Delaney nervous. Not that her siblings would do anything outright, but Rune was an only child, she couldn't imagine the transition of being alone all the time to being surrounded by a close-knit family. 

She handled it with grace, as Rune did with all things.

It didn't take long with the lot of them working, and soon enough the pumpkin pile was rebuilt, and they were selecting their own pumpkins. Knowing their family, Merlene was probably going to win honestly. Although Akiho, Kasumi, and herself were always strong contenders, but no one held a sharp object steady like Merlene honestly. Her precision was amazing, her accuraccy impressive.

It didn't matter who really won in the end. There wasn't any real prize, just the smug thought that they were a better pumpkin carver than anyone else. When Dad got home, he'd be ecstatic to see all of the lit up pumpkins on the porch, scattered around the frontside of the house. They were going to spend the rest of tommorow decorating after classes, even if Raine and Dexter both insisted they could do it themselves.

Dad had given them the next few days off, especially because he knew how hard Halloween was for Raine. Raine had a hard time getting pregnant, and after months of fertility treatments and research, she was able to be. She had a misscarriage two days before Halloween. It had been only two years ago. Delaney remembers how worried Dexter had been about his wife, and still, without fail, she'd shown up Halloween day, and had made Kasumi a birthday breakfast without a single word.

If she was being honest, she was glad it had been Kas. Raine knew sign language, and Kas had talked to her in that way. It had been sweet, and before noon, Kasumi had insisted she go home, leaving her with a tight hug, and an affectionate kiss on the cheek.

Kasumi was oddly absent now. She wasn't even in the kitchen, staring wide-eyed at her phone, frantically scrolling through it. Her chest rose and fell unevenly, and she looked up, catching Delaney's eye.

It was only a blink of an eye before Kas was gone from her sight, out the door entirely.

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✦ OPHELIA ✦

- part two is finished !

- let me know how you felt
about his arc <33

no question today ! as part
two is finished , and we'll be
moving to part three shortly !
so i need all opinions on kasumi
done as soon as possible <3
if this is already done feel free
to just comment as such !

──● answers