Luscious Pumpkin Jam (dated to Halloween night)

[ugly-old-hat.livejournal.com]

The party was not intended to celebrate Halloween, actually, but to celebrate the existence of pumpkins. It just seemed Halloween would be a good time for that kind of a celebration.

Wizarding culture had a special regard for the pumpkin, making it into tarts and juice and savories, forcing it down the gullets of every magic-user from such a tender age as to form a lifelong habit. The Sorting Hat, being steeped in magic, had also steeped itself in many a vessel of pumpkin juice over the centuries of its storied existence. Pumpkin juice, pumpkin ale, pumpkin hooch. Gooey pumpkin-gut strings, luxurious nutrient-rich slime studded with pale seeds. Oh pumpkins, glorious gourd of wizard's delight!

The Hat had dubbed this party after one of its favorite recipes: the LUSCIOUS PUMPKIN JAM.

The huge doors of the Great Hall were open. While magic kept the chill seasonal drafts from the Great Hall itself, party-goers who wished to enjoy the crisp autumn air could do so from the luxury of a pumpkin carriage. These were quite literally hollowed pumpkins that the Hat's magic had transfigured into full-size carriages, capable of carrying several occupants. Each was lit from within by enchanted candles, and studded with gleaming black jewels, with carved faces in lieu of windows. Several of the enchanted wonders were lined up outside the doors, with their house-elf coachmen ready to whisk students around the school grounds in slightly-gooey, pumpkin-scented comfort.

Indoors, all was warm and merry, and candlelit, and mostly orange. Instead of bobbing for apples, guests could bob for miniature pumpkins, the sort Martha Stewart might have used to decorate a mantelpiece, their tub filled with pumpkin juice in lieu of water. A pumpkin-carving station took prominent position near the doors, with paints and yarn to bedeck uncarved gourds for those students uninterested in pulling out pumpkin pulp. Tables had been moved to accommodate a dance floor, with a karaoke machine placed nearby. Golems inspired by Arcimboldo, wholly composed of autumnal fruits, did duty as waiters and DJs.

From the vantage of the head table, elevated above the main body of the hall, the Hat could take in all at once the entire spectacle. Satisfied, it rapped a self-congratulatory pastiche/homage:

"There ain't no party like a Sorting Hat party 'cause a Sorting Hat party don't STOP!"

The Hat felt most coolio itself, extending a strap to caress languidly the sequined sombrero that lay beside its place at the Great Hall's head table. The sombrero did not respond, of course. It was rather like the hat-equivalent of a RealDoll. Inert though it might be, the sombrero was velvety AND blingy, and that was what mattered.

Comments

Re: KARAOKE UP IN HERE!

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

Well, why not amuse himself with a little socialization? The Master flashed her a broad grin and looked at her selection.

"Oh, I think I might be persuaded. I rather approve of the sentiment, after all." Killing faithless lovers? Now there was a concept he could get behind, even if it was a bit morose in places.

Re: KARAOKE UP IN HERE!

[ariemorytwo.livejournal.com]

She'd never sung for an audience before. Oh, she'd given speeches and press conferences since she was a little kid, but singing? That would've been frivolity, and possibly also an embarrassment to Reseune. What was more, the song was definitely not a socially responsible song.

All in all, she felt ready for another go, and since this fellow was game — and, incidentally, a fantastic singing partner — ((with his mun's oocly given permission, of course)) they tried out another of the Nick Cave catalogue.



When that one was over, she turned to her partner, flushed and giddy. "I think we're on a roll," she suggested gaily. "But we should try a third. Once is an accident, twice is coincidence, as they say."

And three times was enemy action, but maybe at Reseune that saying had a different ending, or maybe it was an azi-bodyguard joke. Whatever the case, Ari seemed to be ascribing a positive meaning. She didn't bother hiding the fact that she totally wanted to sing more, and she also didn't give a damn whether she hogged the karaoke machine, apparently.

Re: KARAOKE UP IN HERE!

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

"A 'roll', indeed," he said, taking her hand and kissing the knuckles lightly, with a sly wink. "I don't know if I'd go so far as to call it enemy action." He knew the expression quite well. "But perhaps if you're in the mood for something a touch more adversarial..." He smirked and pointed to another song in the catalog.

Re: KARAOKE UP IN HERE!

[ariemorytwo.livejournal.com]

After all these songs, Ari's throat finally cried mercy. She needed something to wet it — not alcohol; she'd learned long ago that it did her no favors, and it'd just dehydrate her more. Breathless, she curtsied to her duet partner. "I think I'm done, for the moment," she said, beaming. "You know, that was the most unambiguous fun I've had here in ages. And I don't even know your name."

Re: KARAOKE UP IN HERE!

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

He gave her a cheerful grin, the sort that had helped him (along with planet-wide subliminal messages, of course) be elected Prime Minister. "I'm the Master, he said, lightly enough to be gently self-mocking. "And now you have the advantage over me, my dear...?"