Mascots

First there were potatoes, simple wild underground tubers. And people discovered that they can be really good food. And they selected them, making the offsprings better and better. Then they wrapped the potato into a foil. And said that it can be cooked in a microwave in 8 minutes. And Melvin was born. He wasn't eaten, though. It seems too artificial, too wrong. A potato still needs to be peeled and cooked in water and be cursed because it's so hot... So Melvin (after the depressed robot in the Hitchhiker through the Galaxy) was the first mascot that got into the apartment A6. And got its very own potato passport.
Then, one day, I was looking for some fresh basil in the store and I saw basil plants. There is one now in our kitchen, next to Melvin. First named Fawlty (after Basil Fawlty), then changed to Murphy (after the famous aerospace engineer Edward Aloysius Murphy, Jr.) after some glasses of wine and discussions on research stuff.
Then came Charles (just because it suits him), the funny pumpkin from the Farmers' Market down by the Cayuga Lake.
Accepting new residents. The weirdest, the better....

Murphy and Melvin, in perfect symbiosis

Charles and the pumpkin retriever