Chapter 280: Side Quest: You Are a Pirate!

Fall on San Island was beautiful. The tree leaves changed their colors from bright greens to yellows, reds, oranges, and browns. The weather cooled and more people traveled outside of Shulan than usual. That was Finn’s favorite part—the city was a lot quieter this time of year.

Finn, Ravyn, and Yomi perused the Shulan shop stalls in search of ingredients for that night’s meal. Yomi had recently taken up [Cooking], and while she wasn’t the best at it, Finn was grateful to be able to stay home and eat. Taverns were nice and all, but a night in a tavern almost always led to a catgirl propositioning him. Another stranger’s bed. Another night away from Ravyn.

He was more than happy to eat some subpar stews in exchange for a few nights of peace a week.

“Oh! Gourdkins are back in season!” Yomi proclaimed at a vegetable stand.

“Nani? What-kins?” Finn asked.

Ravyn wrinkled her nose. “We’ve bought them before, Finn. Gourdkins. These.” She tapped three large vegetables in various shapes and colors on the stand. All had thick skins and a stem at their base, but those were about the only traits they sold. 

Oh. Right. Like gourds. 

“Fucking vegetables, Finn! Squaawk! Stupid Finn!” Ball Gag screamed from Ravyn’s shoulder. 

Finn rolled his eyes. Miserable hellkite.

“Hey. Bally. Not nice.” Ravyn tapped him on the beak. “Just because you weren’t allowed to eat Finn’s cookies yesterday doesn’t mean you can be rude.”

Ball tucked his head under his wing.

“Orange gourdkins make delicious pies,” Yomi continued, ignoring Ball’s comment. She picked one up and held it out to Finn. “I can try to make one if you’d like.”

Finn accepted the ribbed gourdkin and blinked. “This looks just like a pumpkin.”

Ravyn snickered. “Now who’s making up words?”

“No, seriously. Where I’m from, we’d make these into pies or carve out their insides and then carve patterns on the front.”

Yomi crossed her arms over her chest and tilted her head in curiosity. “Patterns? Like what?”

“Like designs. You could carve out a face on your own or actually buy patterns for really intricate stuff. Haunted houses, witches, spiders, whatever you like.” Finn marveled at the orange gourdkin as he recalled the jack-o-lanterns that lit his neighborhood around Halloween.

Ravyn raised her pointer finger and opened her mouth. She closed it, then opened it again. “...Why?”

Finn grinned. “For Halloween. I can’t believe I haven’t talked about this before.”

“Here. Let me buy that one and a couple other things for dinner. You can talk about it while we walk.” Yomi fished her coin purse from her [Cat Pack] and quickly finished her shopping.

Ravyn accepted a small bag of spices from Yomi, and Finn took a satchel of fruits and vegetables to carry alongside his pumpk— gourdkin.

“So, Halloween?” Yomi picked back up.

“Yeah. It was a holiday where I’m from. Like Cherishing Day or the Starbirth Celebration. There was a lot to it, honestly. Mostly around spooky themes.” Finn shifted the satchel in his arms. “You could take your carved pumpkin and put a candle in it, then put it on your porch. People would dress up—though every day was Halloween if you were a cosplayer.”

“A what?” Ravyn and Yomi asked in unison.

“...Kuso. Forget that part.” Finn shook his head. There wasn’t any way to explain cosplay in Nyarlea. Especially to catgirls—one of the most cosplayed races in history.

“Hmm. I thought you only dressed up for Christmas?” Ravyn asked.

Finn tried to hide his blush with a cough. Oh, yeah. Forgot about the dress-up Santa story. “Halloween, too.”

“What does Halloween celebrate, exactly?” Yomi wondered.

“Erm… I think it started off as a night to ward away evil spirits, or something?” Finn guessed. He briefly remembered a lesson about it in elementary school, but everything blurred together. “Then it kind of became a day where kids go get as much candy and chocolate as they can.”

“Shit. That must be expensive,” Ravyn replied.

Finn shrugged. “Not for the kids. They go door to door, say ‘Trick-or-Treat!’and get free candy.”

Yomi furrowed her brow and studied something invisible off in the distance. “Forgive me, but I’m still struggling to see the point of Halloween.”

“Yeah, honestly, I couldn’t really tell you either. But it’s a lot of fun,” Finn replied.

They arrived at Ravyn’s house and unlocked the door. Yomi lived just down the road, but Ravyn’s place—and, by proxy, her kitchen—were bigger, so that’s where they spent most of their time. Finn loved it; it was the perfect excuse to stay there in the evenings. And it always smelled like Ravyn when they walked in. The heady scents of smoke and ginger.

“What did you dress up as?” Yomi asked as she disappeared into the kitchen.

“What?” Finn blinked. He’d already begun to imagine spending that night next to Ravyn.

“For Halloween? Did you dress up as something?” Yomi repeated.

“Oh. Uh, a zombie once. A couple of characters from books I liked. And I was a pirate for a couple of years.” Finn sank into the sofa and rested his head on the back cushions.

“A zombie? And you didn’t get set on fire?” Ravyn asked, taking a seat next to him.

Finn laughed. “Why would someone set me on fire?”

She snuggled closer to him and leaned her head on his shoulder. “Because they thought you were a roach. Or a Defiled. Baka.”

Finn snaked his hand behind her back and held her close. Having her next to him always felt like home. “Zombies aren’t real where I come from.”

“Are pirates not real, either?” Yomi called.

“Oh. No. Those were real.” Finn touched his chin. “Actually, are pirates a thing in Nyarlea?”

“They were a ‘thing,’” Ravyn teased. She always got on him about his language. But he wasn’t raised as an aristocrat like her. “They’re now an outlawed ‘thing.’”

“Isn’t [Swashbuckler] a Class?” He thought he’d remembered seeing that in the iPaw or a book somewhere.

Ravyn poked her tongue between her lips. “That’s different.”

“What do pirates dress like where you’re from?” Yomi asked, carrying a tray of drinks into the common room. She passed them each a mug before sitting on Finn’s opposite side and enjoying her wine.

“Well, I think Halloween costumes are pretty hyperbolic extensions of what they’re supposed to represent—”

“You’re avoiding the question, Finn,” Ravyn interrupted and poked his side.

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“Right. Fluffy shirts, tight pants, big hats, an eyepatch sometimes. A lot of pirates have parrots, actually.” He nodded toward Ball Gag. “With way more limited vocabularies.”

“Aww, Bally’s just so smart. Aren’t you Bally?” Ravyn nuzzled the parrot with her cheek. He chirped happily in response. She licked her lips. “Tight pants, huh?”

His blush crept to his ears. “Uh, yeah. And sometimes swords.”

“So, if you dressed up as a pirate, could I dress up as your parrot?” Ravyn asked.

Finn imagined Ravyn in a parrot kigurumi and stifled a laugh in his mug. It was equal parts hilarious and adorable. “How would you dress up as a parrot?”

“Like Bally! I’d get a blue dress and plenty of feathers. Obviously,” Ravyn snapped. “I mean, I don’t have to look like an actual parrot, right?”

“No, that would work.” Finn looked at Yomi. “What would you dress up as?”

“The Defiled from the depths of the ocean,” Ravyn said and giggled.

“Ravyn!” Yomi leaned forward and shot Ravyn a sharp glare.

“Actually,” Finn stepped in. I mean, Ursula was kind of like that. “On Earth, there was a pretty cool dress with tentacles attached. I think you’d look really good in one.” Better than a sea witch, anyway.

“R-really?” Yomi flushed and her smile returned. “Who would have thought of making a dress like that?”

“Dunno. There were a lot of crazy costumes that I saw.” Finn took a drink. “People dressed up and went to Halloween parties that whole month.”

“And put candle-lit gourdkins on their front porches?” Ravyn asked. There was a hint of doubt in her voice.

 Finn sighed. “Look. I can’t sew to save my life, but I can at least carve a gourdkin for you. That way you can see what I mean.”

“That’s why I bought two. I want to see it,” Yomi supplied. Her ears flicked forward and her tail straightened out behind her. She was really excited about this. “Will you carve one?”

“Yeah. I just need a spoon and a knife.” Finn finished his drink and slipped off the couch. Yomi hopped up behind him and rushed to the kitchen.

“Pirate Finn.” Ravyn laughed. “You’re hilarious.” She stood and kissed his cheek before following Yomi.

“Maybe one day you’ll believe me,” he grumbled and ran a hand through his hair.

I’d still pay to see you in a parrot kigu. 

Cleaning out the orange gourdkin was just as slimy and stringy as the pumpkins he remembered. Yomi separated the seeds from the strings and promised to dry them out at Finn’s suggestion. Ravyn watched and sipped her wine, feeding Ball Gag a few seeds here and there. It took a long time to scoop all the gourdkin guts away before he could draw a quick face on its surface.

“Ano sa! The triangles are uneven!” Ravyn exclaimed, pointing to the sketched face.

Finn leaned back, admiring his work. “The eyes look even to me.”

“Why are they triangle eyes? Aren’t eyes supposed to be circular?” Ravyn asked, forming a circle with her fingers and resting it over her right eye.

“I’m not sure. I’ve always done triangles on pumpkins. And, well, now a gourdkin, I guess.”

“Here, let me try.” Yomi gently took the carving knife from Finn and corrected the smaller eye until it matched.

“Oh. Yeah. That does look better,” he admitted.

“Damn. You can’t draw for shit.” Ravyn cackled.

Finn took the knife and plunged it inside the gourdkin. “Be nice to the guy with a knife.”

“Oh-ho-ho. Yes, sir, Mr. Pirate.” Ravyn performed a sharp salute.

“I bet you were a very handsome pirate,” Yomi added. “The best around.”

“I don’t know about that.” Finn concentrated on his gourdkin, but Yomi had leaned in very close to him to watch. It was hard not to let himself be distracted by the dip in her dress or the swan-like curve of her neck.

He did his best to distract himself with a ridiculous song while he worked. Yar-har, fiddle-dee… 

Carving the blasted thing went a lot faster than cleaning it. He had a decent looking face in a little under half an hour.

Ravyn snapped her fingers and a flame appeared at their tips. “Great. Now we set it on fire?”

“No, no, wait!” Finn grabbed her wrist. “We put a candle inside! Not set it ablaze!”

Yomi laughed and went to fetch a candle. She snuffed out the oil lamps on her return, then slid the candle inside the gourdkin. “Ravyn, think you can light it without destroying the gourdkin?”

“Of course I can. Baka.” Ravyn carefully lit the candle with one finger and withdrew her hand. The smiling face lit up the room and the small flame flickered across their faces.

“That’s really cute,” Yomi said. “I like it a lot.”

Finn was proud of his first gourdkin-o-lantern. Yomi’s correction had helped to make it nice and even. He looked at Ravyn expectantly. “So?”

Ravyn grinned. “Yeah. Okay. I get it, kinda.” She finished her glass and cupped Finn’s hand in hers. “Next time we should dress up, too.”

“Ooh, that would be fun,” Yomi agreed. “Our own little Halloween.”

“And get candy.”

“And get candy.” Finn nodded. “Our own little Halloween.”

They stayed in the kitchen together for a long time, enjoying the low light of the candle and the fresh smell of the gourdkin.

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