Autumn Adventures (Phillip)

Ainsley runs down the crowded street towards a stall, Ev and I chase after her until she stops with a large grin on her face. She turns to me and points at a large stack of pumpkins of different colours. “Can we get one?” I look at Everan and he looks away as if to say “Hey I'm not in on this that's your decision.” Ainsley does puppy dog eyes and pleads “Please phillipppppp pleaseeeeeeeeeeee.” I sigh and dig through my pockets for money “Fine. Which one do you want?” I scoop her up in an arm so she can get a better view of the ones on the top until she gravitates to a rather unique one, it's an average sized pumpkin, but it's completely white. I check the price tag, not too bad, and so I let her choose another small one as well. She picks a small orange one with a long stem that curls into a spiral. We pay the man selling them as well as pick up a few groceries, our original plan and why we’re at the market in the first place, our pantry was rather bare. Ainsley attempts to carry the larger pumpkin but visibly struggles, it's just a bit smaller than half her size, and so Everan takes it and carries it, having her carry the smaller one instead. The three of us wander the market for a while longer looking to see if there's anything else of interest we missed. It starts to get colder as the sun begins to go down, our cue to head home. We pass trees that are beginning to change, their foliage becoming red and orange and other hues of that sort. We turn into our street passing the familiar houses and some of the few parts of the residential part of the city you actually see people out and about. I put the bag of groceries I was carrying down for the moment to unlock the door, trying not to get my keys stuck in it this time. I nudge the door open and we go inside to find my mothers already home and sitting in the kitchen chatting. I hold up the bag “We brought food.” Ama says something to Mum but I don't hear it, Mum just gives me a thumbs up. Ainsley kicks off her shoes and runs into the kitchen, crawling up onto a chair and plopping her prize in the table “Look what I got!” She tosses the pumpkin up and catches it. “Yeah we also got a bigger one too.” I interject from my place on the staircase as I untie my shoelaces. Everan goes to show them and I follow shortly after. My mom takes the larger one and inspects it “Cool.” I grab the bag from the other room and place it on the counter “Now the important topic: food.” Ev stifles a laugh, or attempts to at least. I sit on the counter and take the items out, fold the bag, then discard it in the pile where the other paper grocery bags go. “We got milk, eggs, butter, steak tips, cookie mix, cereal, lettuce and broccoli, apples, and pasta.” I explain pointing out each item as I take it out. “Pastaaaaaaa” Ev mummers mimicking Italy, from an Anime I somehow got him into called Hetalia. It's references have somewhat become a running joke between us. “So what's for dinner?” Ainsley asks rolling the pumpkin on its side back and forth. Mum rummages through the fridge until she pulls out a package of dinosaur chicken nuggets “You can have these and apple sauce.” She says to Ainsley who claps, she likes dinosaurs, and dragons, and other things of that sort. “And the rest of us can have the steak tips and broccoli there's some left over mashed potatoes from the other night. Sound like a plan?” She then orders us around to get things ready, cleaning pans, setting plates and utensils, putting the chicken in the toaster oven, then orders all four of us out of the room so she can cook in peace. Mom takes Ainsley upstairs for the moment leaving Ev and I in the living room with nothing to do. We look at the blank white pumpkin in silence until an idea pops into my head. “Hey Everan, you know what would be cool?” He looks at me “What if we had Anna decorate it or something. Like draw designs on it and stuff.” He nods “that would be cool alright. I'll text her and ask if she'd do that.” He takes a picture of it and sends it to her asking if she'd be up to it. She responds almost immediately saying she'd love to, just uh how're you supposed to get it to Skyrim? Right, that complicates things. “Text Alarian and see how fast they can teleport here.” I tell Ev and within five minuites they show up. “Whaddya need my friends?” We show them the pumpkin “We need you to be out little mail person for a second, this needs to get to Anna. She's in Solitude at the moment.” Their shoulders sag and they frown “That was the only reason I was called?” I shrug “We have Dino chicken nuggets as payment?” Their eyes light up “I'll be right back.” They grab the pumpkin, snap, and vanish. Mum pokes her head into the living room “what are you two up to in there?” She asks confused by the slight gust of wind that happened with Ali’s leaving. “Sending the pumpkin to Anna so she can make it pretty.” She smiles “Your friend in Skyrim. That's nice of you.” She then turns back to the stove. “If anything it's nice of Len to do so, she could have easily turned it down.” I say to Everan “Yeah but Anna will take up almost any opportunity to do something creative. Like you whenever you can get your hands on new enchantments.” I lean against him “Yeah. You're right.” Within minutes Ali appears again, with a dusting of snow at their shoulders. “Dropped it off. She said she’ll do it as soon as she can then have me get it and bring it to you. Anything else you need?” Ev and I look at each other trying to think if there's anything else. “No? But you can stay for dinner?” They grin. “I'd love to. Besides, Leliana’s off doing stuff, Zevran is who knows where, and we all know I'm a terrible cook...at least when it comes to anything dinner related.” The toaster sounds marking the chicken as ready, in which Ainsley comes tumbling down the stairs, luckily unlike the house we briefly lived in when I was younger, these have carpeting. Ainsley briefly stops, waves to Ali, then tiptoes into the kitchen, flapping her arms against her sides and attempts to reach the counter. Mom comes down after her, picks her up and puts her in a chair, gets a plate and let's her start, then the rest of us still have to wait. Not long after all of us sit around our kitchen table, Ainsley already finished, but we are just starting. Alarian informs us it's the first day of Autumn today, I'd forgotten about that, and inform us on some of their most recent adventures, pranks and excursions. After dinner is finished we wish them goodnight and a good many more adventures, they thank us and exit, closing the front door after them and vanishing into the night. The leaves have already begun to fall and it gets cooler day by day. Though on the contrary I did hear somewhere it's going to be a nice fall. I lookout the window onto the street only illuminated by a single flickering lamppost “Here's to many more adventures, Alarian Surana.” I think to myself as the last winds of their leaving pass into nothing.

Happy first day of Autumn!

Until next time,

Max