Nelyo was grateful, that Finno opened the door. He wasn't sure he'd haven been able to cope with facing his uncle right away.

"You came," his friend sounded like an excited child grabbing Nelyo's wrist and pulling him through an ornated corridor. Not, that he hadn't been here before – Nolofinwe was well known for the parties and festivals to which he never ceased to invite his brother – but he had hardly ever seen the place when people actually lived here. There was dirt on the carpet, books scattered on various windowsills, cloaks tossed away carelessly, ... It looked very much like a home.

"Welcome, Nelyafinwe," the calm voice belonged to an elve who slowly descended from the stairs at the end of the corridor. His dark, blue eyes were stern, but there was a warmth in his smile that made it impossible to feel uncomfortable.

"Greetings, uncle," Nelyo bowed slightly, feeling the necessity to pay respect to his father's brother, "I feel honoured by the invitation."

Suddenly, Nolofinwe started t laugh quietly, which made his dark eyes shine like glass: "Forget the formalities," he ordered, "I don't welcome you as my brother's firstborn, but as my son's friend. Now come in. You can put your cloak wherever you want. Nobody will bother in that mess." Still smiling, he gave the chaotic floor a rather judgemental look, before heading towards a door, that led to a kitchen-like room. Seven pumpkins – all of them at least twice the size of Nelyo's head – were waiting on a counter. Next to them seven long knives and three of Finno's siblings.

Arakano waved at him with an excited smile, Irisse with a somewhat sheepish glance, that made him wonder, what Tyelko might have told her about him, Turkano just nodded. He didn't really know any of Nelyo's family, preferring the company of Arafinwe's children, and neither of them really tried to work against those circumstances. Anarie, Nolofinwe's wife, smiled warmly.

"It is very easy," Finno explained eagerly, handing Nelyo one of the knives and assigning one of the pumpkins to him, "this one is yours. You make small cuts, somewhat like a sketch, and the you just try not to cut your hand off."

Everyone had a knife in hand, when Anarie lifted a small bell, rung it three times and they all started attacking their pumpkins furiously. Nelyo not as furiously as the others, carefully glancing left and right. Slowly – being silently grateful for Curvo's endless instructions on all kinds of tools - he figured out, how to best hold the knife, where to start making cuts and how to design a nearly symmetrical face. Still, it was an ugly task, with the fruit's pulp sticking to both of his hands and the pumpkin in something that felt like thick, very unwashed hair and smelled as if someone had slaughtered a basked of fruits.

It wasn't uncomfortable, though. The family had a certain energy, to which it was easy to adapt, so that Nelyo soon found himself laughing and joking and eventually throwing pieces of pulp with the others, feeling as if he had been with them for years instead of hours.

"Done;" Irisse yelled, just as Nelyo had finished his first eye.

"That's not done," Finno judged, "I wouldn't even call this a face."

"At leas, mine doesn't look like an angry sheep."

"That's not a sheep," Turkano commented, "it is clearly a goat. Really fits your chicken, Irisse."

Slap! A ball of pulp, aimed ad Turkano, hit Nelyo right in the face.

"Moryo, don't!"

What Moryo did to his pumpkin wasn't ambitious anymore, it was outright violent.

Nelyo – after the visit at his friend's house – had thought it a good idea to try the same kind of activity with his brothers. A bit of time together would do them good and he liked the idea of having seven Jack O'Lanterns to light up the dark season a bit. Or rather, six Jack O'Lanterns, given that Moryo was busy hacking his into pieces in what seemed like a sudden outburst of anger. That was unusual and indicated a level of frustration in his younger brother, that was high above the average. Yet, the others seemed to enjoy it: Ambarussa had been running through the house for several hours, grabbing everything they could possibly find – from Moryo's paint to Tyelko's hunting knives and bones stolen from Huan – and included it in their creation in a way that shouldn't be physically possible, whereas Tyelko, with his pumpkin already finished, was desperately searching for Huan, not realizing the dog had made himself comfortable in his equally dogfaced lantern. Kano had abandoned his work, but still sat in the kitchen, dreamily striking some notes on his flute and Curvo, who had worked on his creation for hours, seemed lost in some kind of trance.

Nelyo smiled, considering, how differently they approached this activity, compared to Nolofinwe's children. Where they made a contest out of it, always teasing each other in a loving, playful way, his brothers had left each other alone, only passing tips or tools occasionally, when seeing that someone was in need of assistance. Thus, their results were less competitive, but also very different, chaotic, just as they themselves sometimes seemed like the embodiment of chaos.

"I'm done," Curvo exclaimed and suddenly the room was crowded again. Three of the brothers stuck their heads through the door like Jack-in-the-boxes, all eager to see the results of Curvo's brilliance.

Carefully, each of them picked up their Pumpkin and carried it to the balcony.

"Your's is boring," Telvo complained, as Nelyo light his – admittedly rather plain – lantern with a candle, "look at mine! It has colours." And he lighted the mess of paint and twigs, under which the orange texture of a pumpkin was barely visible.

"Yes," Moryo muttered unhappily, "my colours, that is."

"And mine is a bone-chewing, blood drinking monster," Pityo grinned, nearly setting his sleeve on fire with his candle.

Turko laughed, lifting his Jako O'Lantern's head: "Not better than my dog, though."

Suddenly, he flinched, as two eyes glared at him from inside his pumpkin. Then, he stumbled backwards, as Huan jumped out of it, fleeing from the candle in Turko's hands.

"Stop arguing," Kano interrupted the other brothers, who were laughing at Turko's astonished face, "Curvo's is the best and there is no denying that."

That, at least, was true. Beaming with pride Curvo presented his creation. He placed a candle inside the richly ornated pumpkin, then gave it a twist. Immediately, the light and shadows flashed over the walls and over their amazed faces, painting pictures and drawing figures on the stage of the dark night surrounding them.

The demonstration was followed by impressed applause and Curvo, now blushing slightly, bowed to his brothers.

A warm feeling settled in Nelyo's chest as he watched the light reflected on his brothers' faces. Occasions like that, when they were all together, forgetting every tension or argument between them, were way too rare. But it was good that they were there, reminding them, that – whatever happened – they still had each other. Nelyo smiled. He shouldn't forget to thank Finno for this.

This is an Idea the amazing @a_hazelnut and I have developed in one of our awesome conversations: She has made a beautiful drawing of our favourite kinslayers and their Jack O'Lanterns, which (among other great Silmarillion/Tolkien-content) can be admired in her book "Das rote Buch von Wattpad". I recommend you check it out.

Still, I'm not 100% happy with this. Probably, because I didn't really get into a flow (which might be due to the ridicculously loud music from next door). 

At least, it has a joke about Maedhros and cutting off hands.

Talking about Maedhros: This is set in Valinor, whch is why I used their quenya-names. If this confused you as much as it confused me, here is a (hopefully right) list :

Nelyo – Maedhros

Finno – Fingon

Nolofinwe – Fingolfin

Turkano – Turgon

Arakano – Argon

Irisse – Aredhel

Arafinwe – Finarfin

Kano – Kanafinwe/Maglor

Turko – Celegrom

Curvo – Curufin/Kurufinwe

Moryo – Caranthir

Pityo - Amrod

Telvo - Amras

Something completely different: Does any of you struggle with scars? Because I'm concidering a rather intense Oneshot on Nelyo hating his scars up to a point, where it isn't healthy anymore (don't know, if I'll go through with it, though). Do you think I can upload it, if I put a content-warning on top?