LG SOTD Jun 22 2024 - Courgette O' Lantern wakes up in the woods and goes Bananas as the Fog Cowers on Hallows
#photocontest
Theme: Wood
- Brush: Black & Yellow Merit 99-5 by Heritage Collection Shaving / AP Shave Faux Boar Synthetic 24mm
- Razor: Henson AL13 - Medium #RUSTYBUTTRUSTY #CNC #RAINBOW
- Blade: Treet - Carbon Steel [1]
- Lather: Southern Witchcrafts - Boonana
- Post Shave: Barrister and Mann - Hallows - Aftershave Splash
- Fragrance: Maher Olfactive - The Fog Cowers (sample)
LET'S START TO TALK ABOUT FOOD
Pumpkins (or "Zucche", in Italian) are mostly an Autumn sight.
During the Summer, they are harvested while they are still young babies: not a full-blown Zucca, but a small Zucchina, also known internationally as Courgette.
The freshest ones are sold together with their flower, which you can use for many recipes.
Then, there are also the round courgettes, harvested while they are still young, just like the long ones. These are sold without flower, so that no protruding element will distract from their promising roundness.
Because of their soft skin, they are destined to be carved, stuffed with other ingredients, and then baked in the oven. A google search will reward you with plenty of options.
THE STORY OF COURGETTE O' LANTERN
Born under the Summer sun, a round courgette was harvested together with her sisters and cousins, all looking the same, all looking forward to the same baked destiny.
The following morning, they were all in a box on the shelf of a greengrocer in the big city.
Throughout the day, all her companions got progressively Picked Up and went away with their new human partners. By the time the greengrocer closed shop, our round courgette found herself left over, all by herself in the big empty box. Suddenly, a deep soothing voice with a sexy foreign accent resounded in the darkness of the closed shop: "What are you doing up here all alone?"
"It's just a matter of time, my partner should be picking me up any minute now..."
The courgette's skin was suddenly reached by a sensuous smell. At first, the sweet scents of flowers and vanilla made her nostalgic for her past life under the sun. Then, a darker accord started to creep in, with notes of tobacco and something boozy, something forbidden...
In the darkness, young courgette barely saw the shape of the tall yellow stranger leaning on to her, then felt a sharp cut on her soft skin, and lost conscience.
She woke up light headed and surrounded by the warm embrace of a variety of woods - some smooth, some rugged. A faint smell of lemon was lingering in the air. "Am I finally meeting my destiny, am I on a chef's chopping table ready to be transformed into a human meal?".
"Your transformation is a thing of the past" - the voice was coming from the branch of Fir that was almost surrounding her with its soft yet spiky embrace - "Can't you feel this smell in the air?".
All around her, beyond the faint lemony resin of the Fir, another sweet yet dark scent was lingering around her soft skin. If the tall yellow stranger at the greengrocer's had seduced her with intoxicating notes of vanilla and booze, this time there were notes of cocoa, and then aromatic green/woody notes of vetiver and cedar.
While trying to smell all this, Courgette felt something different on her skin.
"You have been touched by the Magic of the Rotting Blade", explained Fir. "You are now one of us. Not living, yet not dead".
Courgette's desperate scream was muffled by a thick Fog that was starting to Cower in the woods. The air was filled with more moss and musks, as well as heady flowers from somewhere Beyond.
"Today is All Hallows, the day of the Unliving" said a familiar voice. Round Courgette suddenly noticed that a whole pack of bananas where surrounding her, all lit by an unnatural light.
One of the strangers was still yellow, untouched by decay. She immediately realized it was the same yellow tall stranger who had approached her at the empty green grocer, on that lonely night. The other bananas, however, showed the black streaks of having trespassed the threshold of ripeness.
"Embrace your destiny, you little zucchina" - said Tall Yellow Stranger. The Magic Rotting Blade gave you a new purpose. Your undead name will be Courgette O' Lantern. From now on, your immortal duty is to forever glow in the darkness, luring other fruits to this unholy ground, where they will join us for the rest of eternity"
"But what is this place?" - asked Courgette, with her last glimpse of sanity.
"Just shut up and shine, my dear, you must learn to shine and wait"
"Wait for what?"
"The only thing worth it. The Next Coming of the Once and Future King!"
"Who?"
"They call him the Grave Fruit. That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons even death may die"
#FOF
#ROTY