you need to get out more [Jackson]

It had taken some convincing, but Nora had managed to talk her brother Jackson into coming with her to the Solas Fall Festival, which was being held in Bindi Garden Park. She hated seeing him so depressed and apathetic all the time, especially considering how passionate he used to be about life. She thought that maybe if she could get him out of the house more he'd start to perk up a little bit, get some of his old spark back. He never left the house anymore, except to go to those therapy appointments that she could tell he hated.

She'd taken the day off from work and studying so that they could travel here and spend the entire day at the festival. They had the typical fall stuff. Cider, various pumpkin flavored things, little fall-themed trinkets. There were some games and contests. There were even some street performers.

"You should've brought one of your instruments," she told Jackson half-seriously as they went passed a guy playing a saxophone while clio dropped money into his sax case. "Coulda made some money."

Jackson had come to the Solas Fall Festival with only one thing in mind: getting as drunk as clioly possible (or as drunk as Nora would let him). Nora, his oldest little sister, had dragged him out of Earalas this morning with the promise that the festival would be "the most fun thing he had done in months". Jackson doubted that, but had agreed to go because he knew it would make her happy. And he was right, because the instant he had told her okay her face had lit up.

"Oh, I'd love to look like a hobo," Jackson said sarcastically. "Maybe I should buy a hat so I can sit on the corner. I bet clio would love to give me money. Me being a cripple and all. Charity and goodwill and all that." He was mostly kidding, but he could tell it came off sounding more bitter than he actually felt.

Nora smacked Jackson playfully in the back of the head. Unlike everyone else who was always walking on eggshells around him, she didn't put up with his sarcastic remarks. "Or maybe they'd give you money because, you know, you're actually talented?" she said, raising her eyebrows. It wasn't as though he had considered performing music for money beneath his dignity in the past.

"Alright Mr. Smartass, what do you want to do?" she asked him. "There's a pumpkin carving contest. I could test out my surgery skills."

"Oh, I guess there's that," Jackson agreed half-heartedly. He was talented. Not talented enough for his ex-friends to want him in the band he had helped start, but talented enough. Whatever.

"You lead the way, sis," he told Nora as he wheeled himself along. "You're the one who wanted to come." In all honesty he probably wouldn't mind watching her carve pumpkins. "Though I wouldn't mind some hot cider."

"If I'm entering the contest, then you are too," Nora said, giving him no choice in the matter. "Maybe it'll be good for you to stab at something with a knife for a while." He could get some of his frustrations out, or at least pretend that the pumpkin was one of his old jerk band members. "We can grab some cider first, though."

They went over to a stand selling hot cider, and Nora bought a cup for each of them. They then made their way over to the tent where the contest was being held. Some carved pumpkins had already been submitted, and were all incredibly well-done. "Pssssh. I could do that with my eyes closed," Nora said jokingly, gesturing to one particularly impressive one that someone had somehow carved a perfect human skull into. She knew there was no way her or Jackson would come even close to winning, but it could still be fun to try.

"See, I'm guessing yours would look more liiiiike...that one," he said, pausing for a minute before finding the perfect pumpkin and pointing to it. It had pumpkin guts still spilling out of it's middle, and it's design was cut haphazardly. Jackson thought maybe it was supposed to be a ghost, but he couldn't tell. "Mine, however, is going to be flawless."

He and Nora made their way up to the table where they picked up their pumpkins, and then transferred them to the table for carving. "Maybe I should make mine a wheelchair for a little bit of sympathy, eh?" he asked, rolling his pumpkin around a little to see what would be the best side to dig into.

"I hope mine looks better than that, considering I'm going to be cutting into living clio soon," Nora laughed.

"You know, I'm not sure anyone feels as sorry for you as you do," Nora commented lightly. Jack was constantly talking about getting sympathy and pity, and even though he was usually kidding, it got annoying sometimes. She picked up a little carving knife, wondering what she should try to carve her pumpkin into. Her first thought was just the typical jack-o-lantern face, but that would be way too boring.

"Oh, don't be ridiculous," Jackson said, waving a hand at his sister, "of course they pity me." He jabbed his little knife thing into the pumpkin. It actually really pissed him off that clio pitied him, so he had to joke about it to make the situation okay.

"Or maybe I should draw something more uplifting," he contemplated, cutting the top off his pumpkin and setting it next to him. "Like a beautiful quote or maybe a sun."

Nora rolled her eyes. "I don't pity you," she told him. "You're too annoying to be pitiful."

She cut a circle around the stem of the pumpkin and carefully pulled it off. "Easier than cutting through someone's head," she said, reaching in to pull out the goop. "If you're going to do something boring like a sun, then I guess I have to make up for it with something creepy. Maybe a zombie."

"You could always try your hand at a self-portrait," Jack offered. "That would be pretty creepy." He ducked, waiting for the side swipe at his head that was sure to happen.

He dug the goop out of his own pumpkin and set it to the side. "Gods are pumpkins disgusting on the inside." His hands were all gross and slimy now.

Instead of smacking Jack upside the head, since he was anticipating it, she pinched his arm. The jerk. "You think this is disgusting?" she asked him with a light laugh, clawing the remaining stringy goo out of her pumpkin. "Come back and talk to me when you've carved open cadavers."

They both quieted down as they started carving their respective pumpkins, concentrating on the task at hand. After a while Nora looked at her finished product. A pumpkin with a decent zombie face carved into it. Not bad, she thought. As a final touch, she stuck the knife into it so that it looked like someone had stabbed the zombie in the head.

"Done!" she declared.

"Wow, you really did a good job. It looks just like you," Jackson told her, with a straight face. He wheeled back from the table a little so he could see his own work of art. It had ended up being music notes or something equally as lame because he hadn't been able to think of anything cool. Maybe he should have gone with the wheelchair after all.

"Let's go get food now," he said, after they placed their pumpkins on the table where they would be judged later that day. They split up so that they could each get whatever they wanted, with plans to meet under a pavilion in a few minutes. Jackson went straight to a beer cart where he bought himself a large plastic cup of his favorite beer. Then he bought a corn dog and wheeled himself back to the meeting spot. A band was playing in the pavilion.

Maybe this hadn't been such a bad idea after all, he thought as he waited for his sister to show back up. Beer, fried food, and music. Even Hazel was happy.

"Aren't you just the most hilarious clio who ever lived," Nora said dryly. She would have kicked him if he could feel it. "At least mine is more interesting than your boring old music notes."

After splitting up to go find food, Nora got a big pumpkin cookie and a hot chocolate. Her and Selwyn made their way to the rendezvous point to meet up with Jack. He was already there when she arrived, looking surprisingly content. Jack was never content, ever. But there was no mistaking the relaxed look on his face.

"Looks like someone's having a good time," she said smugly, walking over to him. She knew he'd have fun here.

"Yeah, old man Barney sure looks like he's having a blast," Jackson said, looking behind himself at an old man that was tap dancing with a cane. He was kidding of course. He was having a pretty good time.

Nora gave the old man a weird look, but quickly wiped it off her face before he noticed. Why the hell was this random old guy just tapdancing alone with a cane? "Um. Okay then," she said quickly, pushing Jack's wheelchair a slight distance away. She didn't care if he didn't want to move, that old dancing man was weirding her out and she didn't want to stand by him.

"Anyways," she said, shaking her head. "Should we stay and watch the band?" It wasn't really her type of music that they were playing, but she knew that Jack loved music more than anything, so she was willing to make that sacrifice for him.

Jack laughed as Nora pushed him away. He'd thought the old guy was kinda cute.

"'Course we should stay and watch the band, Baby Sister," he said to Nora. "Listen to that rhythm." All the members of the band were playing in perfect sync, and the lead singers vocals were, while a bit rough, perfect for the genre. If Jackson's legs worked he would have been tapping his foot, and maybe even would have forced Nora to dance with him. But as it was, his legs didn't work, so he settled for tapping his fingers.

"You know, this place isn't so very bad," he told her. "Not great, so don't think you did too good, but it's not awful." He looked over and winked at her.

"Coming from you? I'll take 'not awful,'" Nora said, grinning. "I told you you'd like it here, Stupid Big Brother," she added, feeling quite proud of herself for actually succeeding in getting Jack to lighten up and enjoy himself for once.

Jackson stuck his tongue out at Nora. He was glad she was smiling.

"So, what else do you have in mind for us today?" he asked her as the band finished playing. He wasn't sure what else there was to do here. He did know he wanted another beer, though.

"That's up to you, Jack," Nora replied, reaching over and ruffling his hair. Then, before he could even suggest anything, she exclaimed, "Oh, they're selling caramel apples over there! We should get some."

So the beautiful siblings went and got some caramel apples (which were delicious) and ate them. Jackson got a beer, then they got a caricature drawn, and then they did some other fall-festival type things before they finally flew back home to Earalas.

Overall it had been a great day, and Jackson was actually really glad that Nora had forced him to come.