#pencil museum

[feedthepheasants]

fluff/kinktober day 3 - "pumpkin carving"

pairing: f!tav x gale

prompt: pumpkin carving [from the same list as before, have not located OP's blog :') ]

part 2 of the modern/college au from day one! [youngish] grad students, fluff, tastefully cheesy (?), pumpkins, fall campus activities!

wc: 1,318

read here on ao3!

“This looks terrible,” Tav says with a pathetic laugh, shoulders slumping and hands slimy with the pulp from the half-carved pumpkin before her. 

“I offered to help,” Gale says from across the table, focused entirely on his own pumpkin. “But you declined.” 

“Using magic to carve a pumpkin completely defeats the purpose of participating in the activity!” 

“It does not,” Gale retorts, looking up at her. “It just makes things a bit easier. Cleaner, too,” he says, nodding towards her hands. 

“That’s supposed to be part of the fun,” Tav says. “But it’s been a while since I’ve done this, and I forgot just how messy it gets…” 

As part of the fall festivities on campus, there’d been a pumpkin-carving event scheduled; Gale had been waiting for Tav outside Smith Hall one Thursday, ready to walk to her next destination. It had been the only time they’d really gotten to spend with one another since their night in the library. Both were swamped with work, so finding a time they both had free had been a challenge. As they crossed the quad that day, Tav saw the event flyer for the following Saturday and had gotten so giddy when she’d read it that Gale had no choice but to clear his schedule and take her. It hadn’t quite been the date he’d been planning, but any excuse to see her was well worth it. 

Even if it meant not using his magic and having his hands covered with pumpkin guts. 

“Well, I’m sure whatever you’ve got over there is a masterpiece in the making,” Gale says with a teasing but sweet smile. Tav’s face heats, but when she glances back at her ‘masterpiece,’ she lets out a laugh. 

“No, Gale. It’s terrible.” Tav leans back in her chair, laughing in defeat. 

“You’re being too hard on yourself,” Gale sighs, putting down his carving tools and moving to stand from his seat. 

“No!” Tav says quickly, throwing her arms around her pumpkin and dragging it close to her chest, desperate to keep him from looking at it. 

“Tav,” Gale laughs incredulously. “Come on, let me–” 

“NO,” Tav says, her own giggles starting to come out as she turns in her seat, pumpkin still in her arms. 

“Give me that–” 

Gale comes around the other side of her chair, attempting to wrestle the gourd from her arms. Their commotion earns some looks from the other students, but it’s as if they’re the only two around. Plus, he can’t get enough of her laugh, and he doesn’t get to hear it nearly as often as he’d like to. 

Tav’s grip on the pumpkin slips, and Gale finally takes it from her grasp. He gives her a smug, triumphant smile before turning his gaze to the gourd. 

“Oh,” he says with a frown. 

“I told you. It’s terrible.” 

“It’s…” He tries to find something to say, but it’s all he can do to stifle his laughter. “Well, it’s certainly got character, hasn’t it?” 

“Like yours can be much better,” Tav teases, reaching across the table to turn Gale’s pumpkin around. 

“What the fuck, Gale?” Tav asks in surprise. 

“That’s my cat,” Gale answers. “Her name is Tara.” 

Across the face of the pumpkin is a cat, resting on a curling tree-branch, paw raised in the air to swat at a bat. The space around it has been etched into, making wispy, curling tendrils and a smattering of stars. 

“You’re cheating,” Tav says, staring in awe at the pumpkin. 

“Cheating?” Gale huffs a laugh, setting Tav’s pumpkin back down in front of her. “For your information, I happen to be quite skilled with my hands.” As soon as the words leave his mouth, Gale and Tav go quiet for a moment, but burst into another fit of flushed laughter when they make eye contact. Gale tries to calm himself to recover, but is only partially successful. “I mean, well– you know, as far as– stop laughing–” he shakes his head, “I mean as far as those silly plastic carving tools go, of course–” 

Tav is out of breath from laughing, face completely red as she turns her attention to anything but Gale, her mind fluttering with a thousand racing thoughts – all of them concerning those hands. 

“Clearly you’ve been practicing your carving skills,” Tav tries to say as evenly as possible, a few giggles slipping out as she attempts to turn her attention back to her half-carved jack-o-lantern. “Either that, or you’re–” 

“If you insinuate that I’m cheating one more time–” 

~

By the end of the event, Tav’s jack-o-lantern certainly looks better than it had before, but only because she’d finally accepted Gale’s help. She sat with her legs crossed in her chair as he worked, reshaping the eyes and mouth to be more symmetrical and happy rather than mangled and wonky. Her eyes had remained fixated on his hands the entire time. 

“Thank you for fixing my handiwork,” Tav says as they near her car, glancing down at her pumpkin. “And for humoring me.” 

“Humoring you?” 

“I know pumpkin carving is silly– well, apparently not when you do it–” 

Gale laughs. 

“And I know I complained through a lot of it, but really,” Tav shakes her head, smiling, “thanks.” 

“You say that like it’s a chore,” Gale says, playfully nudging her shoulder with his own. “I would’ve gone to the– I don’t know, a pencil museum if you’d asked me–” 

“A pencil museum?” 

“Yeah, a pencil museum,” he replies, looking down at her. She glances up towards him, but immediately turns her focus ahead, trying not to melt under his gaze. “I’ll take advantage of any and every opportunity to spend time with you, Tav. Now, I can’t say I necessarily thought about a date where we’d be carving fruits, but–” 

“Excuse me?” 

“What?” Gale asks, immediately tracing back through his words. 

“Carving– fruits?” 

“Er– yes?” 

“Vegetables,” Tav says, narrowing her eyes at him. “Carving…vegetables.” 

“Fruits,” Gale pushes, tilting his head. 

“No,” Tav shakes her head.

“Uh, yes,” Gale laughs. 

“No–” 

“Tav, I hate to break this to you, but a pumpkin is a fruit.” 

“Gale, a pumpkin is a–” She stops. “A date?” 

“A date is also a fruit, Tav.” 

“No, you said date,” she pushes, changing the subject. 

“I did,” Gale nods matter-of-factly. 

She stares up at him. “A date?” 

It’s Gale’s turn to blush. “Yeah, Tav, a date.” 

“You’ve thought about dates?” Tav asks. She can’t help but feel a bit girlish — she’d thought about dates too, but neither of them had broached the subject. While her own insecurities had begun to bubble, she had to keep reminding herself that he’d made a habit of waiting for her on Tuesdays and Thursdays, even admitting he’d do his best to leave early when he could, so she wouldn’t have to wait on him. 

“Of course I have,” Gale nods. “I was trying to find a good time to ask you— you know, now that I know your schedule as well as you know mine—“ Tav rolls her eyes. “To officially ask you out on a date. But you know, you were so excited about this—“ he gestures towards their pumpkins, “so I moved some things around so I could— well—” he shrugs, lifting the pumpkin with a sheepish smile. 

“Yes,” Tav breathes. Gale lifts his brows. “To a date, I mean. You tell me when, and I’ll be there,” she nods. Her stomach is fluttering as his gaze shifts from flushed to enamored. “Maybe not to a pencil museum, but—“ 

“I won’t take you to a pencil museum,” Gale laughs, shaking his head. “At least, not this time. But if you can spare a night to have dinner with me, I promise I’ll make it worth your while. Whatever you want, I’ll make it for you. How does Wednesday sound?” 

Tav smiles. “It sounds like a date.”

taglist:

@dr-demi-bee @ladyofcrowsandcoffee @lanafofana

@marlowethebard @crimson-and-lavender @spooky-lil-bee

@lastlight-inn @waterdeep-weavemoss @amorgansgal

if you'd like to be added to my taglist, please let me know!

[f0restpunk]

[sleepnoises]

im reading the pairing by casey mcquiston in a somewhat spiteful fashion and on pages 74–75 the love interest is said to be holding a fountain pen and then pushes his hair out of his eyes with the eraser of his pencil ... get a better editor and then tell me what fountain pen it is !!!

[silusvesuius]

nnnnnnnnnnnnno maa'am

[life-imitates-art-far-more]

Theodor Kittelsen (1857-1914) "Skogtroll" ("Forest Troll") (1906) Black chalk stick, pencil, watercolor, and gouache on paper Located in the National Museum of Norway, Oslo, Norway

[orangerosebush]

Artemis will disassemble and clean a fountain pen with the same level of intensity as Butler disassembling and cleaning one of his guns.

[sleepy-spacetronaut]

Here’s more of Bill, he officially has invaded my sketchbook and claimed it as his home. For real, more than half of it is about him so far.

[artstantpansies]

it's pride month post jedtavius

[oncanvas]

Rooftops, Edward Hopper, 1926

Watercolor and graphite pencil on paper 12 ⅞ x 19 ⅞ in. (32.7 x 50.5 cm) Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, NY, USA

[xiphosuras]

Not allowed in but very persistent

[pklonginus]

wip- been trying to any% this set of pencils before realising i’d get a blister on my finger if i continued rn soooo waiting time

[mikustan27]

twin fantasy (those boys)

[why-bless-your-heart]

I hate to say it, but I think I have enough art.

[annasellheim]

next part

[toastedstencils]

the dream of the shepherd by ferdinand hodler, august by mary oliver

[faridbellal]

Galerie de Farid Bellal